Adapt your business to climate change
Implementing changes to your business to face the growing effects of climate change and align with new opportunities.
Northern Ireland's climate is changing. Variability will continue from year to year, however some trends are likely to emerge. These include rising sea levels and more frequent extreme events such as heavy rain, stormy weather and excessive temperatures.
Climate change presents two main challenges to businesses. You will be expected to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the worst predicted outcomes - there are practical steps your business can take to prevent climate breakdown.
You may have to adapt to existing, unavoidable changes to the climate, and deal with how climate change will affect your business.
There are climate change effects your business should prepare for, although the scale will depend on your industry sector and location. Adapting your business strategy for climate change may mean alterations to your premises, supply chain, working practices, or products and services.
This guide explains why businesses need to adapt to climate change, what the risks can be, how to change business priorities in response to climate change, and what other businesses are doing to reduce their carbon footprint.
How will climate change affect my business?
How climate change may impact your business now and in the future and the impacts of climate change on your supply chain.
The changing climate will bring many challenges for society and business, some which are known now and some which it may be difficult to predict.
Impacts of climate change on business
Climate change is likely to directly impact your business in a number of ways:
- extreme weather and more variable weather
- more flooding events
- water restrictions
- supply chain disruption or collapse
- government mitigation measures
Unpredictable weather can affect your business directly, for example by increasing the risk of water shortages or flooding. This can cause significant disruption to your business and make it more difficult to get insurance. You should take some time to understand how to protect your business from flooding.
Your business may also be affected by measures imposed by the government to help meet greenhouse gas reduction targets. These measures include:
- the Climate Change Levy - a method designed to improve your business' energy efficiency. You may already pay this levy as part of your energy bills. You can reduce the amount of levy you pay by cutting the amount you use and switching to renewable energy.
- climate change agreements - if your business is in an energy-intensive sector you may be eligible for a reduction in the climate change levy by meeting energy reduction targets.
- emissions trading and reporting - if your business is in one of the energy-intensive sectors covered by the scheme, you must report and meet targets to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, or take part in a voluntary reporting scheme.
Reducing your emissions can bring other benefits, such as lower energy bills and improving the way stakeholders view your business. You may also be able to take advantage of related tax breaks.
The most effective way of cutting your carbon emissions is likely to be by using a systematic approach to managing emissions reduction, such as by using an environmental management system.
You can aim to lessen the impact of your business activities on climate change by becoming a net zero business.
Get a free sustainability report
All Northern Ireland businesses with an annual energy and resource spend of more than 拢30k can get a free assessment of their environmental performance across areas such as raw materials, energy, carbon, packaging, biodiversity and waste - .
Climate change effects your business should prepare for
Different ways in which climate change may affect your business in Northern Ireland and how your business can prepare.
There are a number of reasons why you should adapt your business to climate change. Climate change may have both positive and negative impacts on your business. How your business will be affected depends on many factors including:
- your location
- your business' activities
- the ability of your premises to withstand extreme weather events
- your customer base
- the length, location and diversity of your supply chain
Extreme weather disruption
Climate change is likely to bring more extreme weather that may result in an increase in damage and disruption caused by flooding, strong winds or higher temperatures. Damage from more extreme weather, such as hailstorms, may also become more common. If Northern Ireland experiences exceptionally hot summers, this may result in seasonal water shortages and increased energy costs for cooling.
Your business should have a flood plan, especially if it is in an area already identified as being at risk of flooding. Your flood plan ought to include what action should be taken in the event of a flood and set out measures to minimise the risk of damage if a flood should occur, such as storing stock above floor level.
if your business depends on water you should think about what you would do if there were water restrictions. This could mean changing some of your business processes so they are less water-intensive, or implementing a water recycling or rain collection system.
Staff and supplier disruption
You should consider ways to manage employee absence due to bad weather and putting systems in place, for example home working which can reduce the impact of extreme weather events.
You could also take measures to improve the comfort of your workforce, such as providing clothing for inclement weather, blinds, natural ventilation or insulation. Some of these measures will also contribute to improving energy efficiency.
Even if your business is not directly affected by the impacts of climate change, it is possible that your suppliers or customer base may be affected. If this happens, it will have implications for your business.
You may be able to extend your business interruption insurance to cover you in the event that one of your suppliers is affected by a storm or drought. Think about ways to improve the efficiency and resilience of your supply chain.
Climate change risk insurance
Although you may be able to insure against some of the risks from climate change, you're unlikely to be able to get cover against the indirect economic risks such as the impact on staff.
You may find it cheaper and more effective to change your business strategy in order to reduce and manage the risks in the first place.
For those elements of climate change risk which are insurable, it's important that you choose the right insurance to protect against business risk.
Your business strategy and climate change
Your business planning process should take into account the impact that climate change could have on your business.
To ensure that your business operates effectively, and continues to do so in the future, you should have both a business plan and a strategic plan. Your business plan should focus on short-term and mid-term goals and define the steps necessary to achieve them. Your strategic plan should contain longer-term objectives and explain the strategies for reaching these.
Climate change in your business strategy
As part of this business planning process, you should think about the impact that climate change could have on your business. You should consider positive impacts such as new opportunities as well as negative impacts such as rising costs, changes in customers' buying habits and risks.
As well as thinking about how climate change will affect your own business, you should also think about how climate change will affect your supply chain and your customers.
You should try to ensure that your adaptation measures are sustainable. For example, consider whether your business' management of climate risks will negatively affect the ability of other people or the natural environment to adapt to climate change. You should also consider if any adaptation measures you implement in the short term will affect your ability to adapt to the effects of climate change in the future.
Managing climate change risks
Climate change risks can be managed like any other business risks. Approaches to assessing and mitigating risks may include business continuity planning, risk management and strategic planning. These can help you to:
- assess your strengths and weaknesses
- identify and manage any significant impacts
- secure cost savings and internal efficiencies
- provide benchmarks for improvements and intended benefits
In order to manage the risks your business faces from climate change, you should consider doing the following:
- identify what the risks are
- identify which elements of the risk you have control over or can influence
- implement a plan to avoid the risks where it is possible and cost-effective to do so
- where it is not possible to avoid a risk, you should take measures to minimise the chance of the event occurring
- take steps to minimise the severity of a loss should the event occur
To best integrate your climate change plans into your business processes, you should consider using an environmental management system.
Changing business priorities in response to climate change
How your business can adapt and respond to opportunities presented by climate change in Northern Ireland.
Environmentally responsible businesses will be trying to prevent climate breakdown by reducing emissions and energy use. It is also prudent to plan for how your business may have to operate in a changed climate. Here are some examples of new business directions you could take:
Consumer demand
Climate change may increase demand for certain goods and services, such as water management products and equipment and clothing for extreme weather conditions. Renewable energy generation will become more attractive to businesses looking to increase their energy security.
Farm diversification
Changing weather patterns may mean that Northern Ireland farmers may have to diversify into other crops that they do not currently grow. In some areas there may be an extended growing season. Using land for business activities other than traditional farming can increase income - this is known as farm diversification.
Changes for tourism businesses
Warmer summers could also extend the local tourist season and make certain local tourist destinations more attractive. Outdoor leisure facilities could see an increased demand. Similarly, increased rainfall may make investing in indoor facilities important for a more diverse range of tourist activities.
The climate impact of air travel may mean changes to the volume of overseas visitors or an increase in demand of eco tourism options. Businesses in the leisure and tourism sector should plan and prepare for these changes to their business model.
Construction standards
The construction industry may be experience an increase in workload as people and businesses will want to change their premises to adapt to climate change. This will increase demand for new and altered premises and offer opportunities for repair, maintenance or clean-up contracts. There may also be the chance to develop new construction products and services for buildings.
Reducing our carbon footprint - City Hotel Derry
How City Hotel Derry reviewed their waste and energy overheads, set targets for action and delivered cost savings.
The City Hotel Derry is a four star hotel on the banks of the River Foyle in the centre of Derry~Londonderry. The hotel was built in 2002 and caters for business and leisure guests in its 158 bedrooms, as well as functions such as weddings and conferences. There is also a bar, restaurant, fitness gym and pool/spa, which is also open to membership of local residents. The site is a detached building with eight floors and a basement garage. The building's gross floor area is approximately 14,400 m2.
As part of Chardon Management environmental management system, a review of all energy and waste streams was initiated in late 2007. The hotel set an annual target of 3 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions and 10 per cent for reduction waste. Its ultimate goal is zero carbon emissions and zero waste to landfill.
What we did
City Hotel approached the Carbon Trust in 2007, who carried out an audit of the hotel revealing many energy and resources issues. The benefits of energy audits were realised through further engagement with Invest Northern Ireland and the Carbon Trust at a workshop later in the year. The developing relationship has given City Hotel access to current energy efficient measures and to local, sustainable resource outlets. This helped it to reduce its carbon footprint, and resulted in significant cost savings.
The hotel implemented various energy efficiency measures, such as conversion of the site to run on natural gas, installing LED lighting, updating its BMS system and the installation of automatic window openers. The hotel has also being training its staff in energy efficiency and environmental awareness issues, culminating in the creation of a green team and energy champion. Staff segregate all the waste for recycling, this minimises the cost of disposal of the remaining material.
What the benefits were
City Hotel has diverted a reduction in CO2 emission from utilities of over 31 per cent, equating to 580 tonnes per annum. The hotel is also working with Invest NI to continually seek the most cost beneficial methods of reducing all its energy and waste streams. By recycling and having the food waste converted to compost, City Hotel now avoid sending over 90 tonnes of material to landfill.
This has delivered annual savings of over 拢67,000 from reductions in utilities and waste. A continual review of energy efficiency best practices and the process of waste reduction, including water, has helped minimise the impact of utility price rises. These measures will further reduce the company's carbon footprint and increase its profitability, sustainability and environmental credentials.
City Hotel Derry's Energy Champion Clare Campbell said "Carbon and waste reduction is becoming increasingly beneficial and necessary in the current economic climate. These measures have assisted us towards our goal of zero carbon emissions and have helped us achieve zero waste to landfill. For our efforts we have been awarded the Green Tourism Gold Award and the Zero Waste Gold Award for 2013."