Delivering advice

Adaptation to climate change essentially involves making decisions (whether to adapt, when to adapt and how to adapt). Therefore, the type of process appropriate will depend on the decision-making culture of the company. At SMEs this is often (but not always) based on ad hoc methods and informal structures. Efforts should be made to mainstream adaptation into existing decision-making processes.

Consideration of any recent extreme weather events and their impacts can be a powerful starting point before going on to think about the future.

You may wish to carry out a climate impacts audit for the business or, if you are able to get a group of managers together, run a climate impacts workshop to begin scoping the potential impacts of climate change at a business or sector. Information on how to run a BACLIAT workshop may be useful.

The Adaptation Wizard is a tool to help organisations, projects or strategies adapt to climate change. It aims to be accessible yet comprehensive showing the five steps required for effective adaptation. The level at which each step is engaged in will depend on finding a balance between:

  • Working within existing governance and organisational structures (so as not to waste valuable time), and
  • Adequately covering all significant areas of climate risk, some of which may require new ways of thinking

Not an easy task!