Navigating an altered world

What it is about

Rodrigo Suárez Castaño, Climate and Sustainability leader for Latin America and the Caribbean at Marsh McLennan, and César A. Rodríguez, of Marsh Advisory Dominican Republic, explained at the Second Annual Risk Conference (September 2024) how climate change and global fragmentation are altering organizations' risk map.

The 22-slide presentation starts from the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report, reviews the planetary boundaries, IPCC and Dominican Republic projections, industry impacts, the green taxonomy, financial risks and opportunities (such as catastrophe bonds), litigation and flood risk, and closes with questions about companies' preparedness.

Objectives

• Place environmental risks within the short- and long-term global risk landscape.
• Show climate projections for the Dominican Republic and their impact on industries.
• Set out how to anticipate, transfer and manage environmental risks within organizations' strategy.

Key takeaways

1. According to the report cited, 6 of the 9 planetary boundaries have already exceeded the safe zone, and several of them are directly tied to the main global risks.
2. Risks are interconnected: cyber insecurity, resource scarcity, changes in Earth systems and biodiversity loss reinforce one another.
3. With climate change the probability and magnitude of extreme events increase, so risks from multiple perils must be re-evaluated.
4. Companies also face litigation and transparency risk, for example over climate commitments whose truthfulness is questioned (greenwashing).
5. For flood risk, the proposals are to learn to live with climate change, take preventive measures, build strategic protections and prepare for relocation.