Resilience

The Three Epochs – Overcoming Business Reluctance towards Climate Action

admin — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 09:53:05 +0000

The Three Epochs - Overcoming Business Reluctance towards Climate Action

Climate crisis is changing the way we live and the way we work. The effects of climate change are being felt by citizens and businesses all over the world. Bobby, a restaurant owner in Cape Coral, Florida gets an insurance renewal premium quote for $13,000/ year compared to $3,000/year for year before. Such an increase in cost for a small and medium enterprise jeopardizes the business continuity of the restaurant.

Bobby’s story is not in isolation. Climate change triggered disasters have ravaged large parts of Florida coast for years. The number of insurance providers in State of Florida has shrunk by 90% due to their inability to preemptively and accurately estimate premium based on granularized risk exposure data record. Eventually, high premium forces Bobby to discontinue his insurance for physical assets.

The risk from naturally triggered disasters is categorized into physical and liability risks. 2023 was the hottest year on record. One other hot record in 2023, damages from global natural disasters totaled USD 380 Billion in economic losses – with only one-third of these losses covered by insurance.

The increasing frequency and intensity of climate events is not just an Environmental disaster, but also a spiraling Economic disaster. Many businesses are exposed to liability risks from failure to measure risk at granular level. More so, the inability to prepare for climate events prior to the event is a chance lost towards survival. With an existential threat to physical assets worldwide, most businesses remain reactive and shy from investing in granular climate risk data record and data-based adaptation action. Why is this? How do we comprehend the inaction from businesses? How can we explore the challenges and opportunities for proactive Climate action. Nudge businesses globally to Prepare and NOT Postpone.

Tom Chi’s Three Epochs Framework – Scarcity, Abundance and Planetary Harmony provides a useful lens for understanding this reluctance

Epoch 1 – Scarcity – In this stage businesses only focus on solving for immediate operational concerns and near-term profits. For example, a seafood processing unit close to the coast focuses on maximizing production, while ignoring the need for flood-proofing the facility.

Epoch 2 – Abundance – When business is growing, creating a little surplus, the focus shifts to creating value and impact. Large MNC face equal pressure from investors and consumers to address its environmental impact while assessing climate risk of their operations.

Epoch 3 – Planetary Harmony – At this stage, businesses take a long–term and regenerative approach towards business operations. It views climate risk mitigation as integral to its strategy, collaborating with other companies to create sustainable solutions.

Most businesses today struggle to get past Epoch 1 – Scarcity. This is primarily driven by perceived upfront cost of action, with unclear Return on Investment (RoI) and rigid internal systems. Additionally, businesses lack a clear understanding of the specific climate risks they face across their asset portfolio, comprising of land and building, plant and equipment, supply chain infrastructure and point of sale hub and centers. This lack of awareness hinders their ability to step out of the near-term business performance towards long-term business sustenance.

At Resilience AI, we understand most of the challenges that businesses, large and small and medium enterprises, spanning across organized and unorganized sector, face in their #ClimateAction journey. Our flagship offering – Reslience360, is a Climate Enterprise suite that enables businesses agnostic of its size, strength and sector, assess their hyper-local risk across their operations, provide a comparison of readiness across different global standards and use automated climate action to accelerate the path to resilience.

We reduce the friction of Climate Risk adaptation using a lifecycle approach

Demonstrate the business use case and the benefits of investing in climate risk mitigation efforts towards increase in revenue and short-term and long-term savings in expenditure
Build insights climate risks relevant to the business and potential impacts on their operations
Provide easy to access and affordable solution via our web based portal
Replicate the benefit and impact across businesses, policymakers and academia

Don’t let the climate crisis disrupt your business continuity. Start your journey towards resilience today. Explore how Resilience360 can help you assess risks, act decisively, and secure your business for the future. Learn More or Book a Demo

#ThreeEpochs #ClimateRisk #BusinessResilience #Sustainability #ClimateEmergency #BusinessAction #SustainableFuture #ClimateRiskManagement #ClimateSmartBusiness #TomChiFramework #ClimateTech #AIForClimate #AIClimateSolutions

AI for Good: Applications in Sustainability, Humanitarian Action and Health

admin — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 16:45:39 +0000

AI for Good: Applications in Sustainability, Humanitarian Action and Health

In “AI for Good: Applications in Sustainability, Humanitarian Action, and Health,” a team of veteran Microsoft AI researchers deliver an insightful and fascinating discussion of how one of the world’s most recognizable software companies is tackling some of the world’s greatest challenges with the power of artificial intelligence (AI).

People around the world face significant problems that require creative and innovative solutions. New technologies often form the foundation of those solutions, offering fresh capabilities that promise to make short work of stubborn issues. One of these categories of tech, however, is having an even greater impact than most others: artificial intelligence.

In the book, you’ll explore the work of Microsoft’s philanthropic Al for Good Lab, which tackles global issues using methods that can be replicated and reapplied by other social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and volunteers.

All proceeds go to support the American Red Cross

“AI offers more potential for the good of humanity than any invention that preceded it. After reading this book, I hope you’ll share my optimism for the possibilities of this powerful new technology.” — Brad Smith, Vice Chair & President of Microsoft

Excerpt from the book

A Call to Action – Juan M. Lavista Ferres

The intent of this book is different from the many texts that aim to teach the fundamentals of artificial intelligence. By sharing real-world examples of how artificial intelligence and advanced data science methods can be applied for good, we seek to inspire the reader to envision new possibilities for impactful change. We want our work to engage readers by exploring pressing questions, igniting a broader conversation about ethically redirecting our technological capabilities for the greater good, and showing that it can be done.

The smartphones we carry in our pockets surpass the computing power that once sent astronauts to the moon. With artificial intelligence and data at our fingertips, we now have the tools to address the world’s most pressing problems. We no longer have excuses.

Artificial Intelligence to enforce Climate Risk Disclosure regulation – a pragmatic step for climate adaptation and India

admin — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 16:34:43 +0000

Artificial Intelligence to enforce Climate Risk Disclosure regulation – a pragmatic step for climate adaptation and India

On February 28, 2024, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a groundbreaking draft guideline titled “Disclosure Framework on Climate-related Financial Risks, 2024” that will require banks and other regulated entities (Res) to make comprehensive disclosures on their climate risk management practices. The guideline recognizes four thematic pillars, each requiring baseline and enhanced disclosure. The enhanced disclosure of Strategy thematic pillar requires RE to disclose how and when the climate scenario analysis was carried out, pertaining to climate scenarios and its associated physical and transition risks.”

The guideline addresses climate change with a resilience view, encompassing both mitigation and adaptation, as climate resilience gap poses the most emerging risk that is expected to have major financial stability implications. A standardized disclosure framework to foster transparency, enable better risk assessment, and facilitate more efficient allocation of capital is put in placei.

This announcement was made a week before United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission voting to approve new climate risk disclosure rules, while narrowing mitigation disclosures and adding adaptation pertaining to capitalized costs, expenditures expensed, charges, and losses incurred because of severe weather events and other natural conditions. This is a significant shift that will require many companies to include information about their emissions along with the other physical and transition risks that U.S. businesses must detail to the publicii.

The RBI’s guidelines are in sync with scientific learnings that with the increasing number of climate induced disasters, building and empowering adaptation, by government, private enterprises, and communities, is imperative for India. India has burgeoning metropolises that are not the best planned. When faced with a crisis do the custodians of large cities, operators of more than 1500 global capability centers with more than 1.5 million workforce and owners of nearly 250,000 manufacturing plants, have the tools to identify the imminent risks to these cities and setups, in terms of vulnerable populations.

Heatwave, cyclones, and floods are impacting nearly every industry

As India continues to break highest temperature record every year, nearly 15 states have more than 1 heatwave day, of which 9 have more than 10 heat wave days, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Delhi NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand. The states of Odisha and southern West Bengal have wet bulb temperature of around 29 degrees Celsius, impacting the coastal livelihood such as salt and workforce in factories. The fire incident in landfills of Bhalswa in 2022 due to extreme heat took was a struggle to extinguish. Delhi, India’s capital, and Maharashtra sees a minimum of two major fires every year in vulnerable areas where unregulated industries are or in the slums and shanties that are made of highly inflammable materials.

While forest fires are anthropogenic, scarcity of water and rising temperature will see an increase in large forest fires. Per the Forest Report 2023 report, frequency of large forest fires in India has increased between 2021-22 and 2022-23iii. Fire breakout due to rising temperature has led to loss of rare trees and patta land in Kodaikanal forest of Tamil Nadu and loss of pine plantation in Uttarakhand.

WWF study 2017 outlines the reason for increase in forest fires in Indonesia as the huge plantations of natural rubber on former Indonesian rainforest sites. India is home to nearly 9 lakh hectare of rubber plantation in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Assam, and Meghalaya. Kerala and Assam are tropical rainforests. Natural rubber is also the raw material for tyres, whose export increased by nearly 50% in 2023. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ General Directorate of Rubber (GDR) issued four-point fire prevention guidelines to rubber plantation owners in January 2023iv.

Climate behavior is no longer anticipatory. Cyclone Biparjoy, which was predicted to primarily affect Gujarat, affected Rajasthan with higher intensity and damage. Similarly, extreme temperature events leading to heat wave declared as a disaster and increase in recurring climate event intensity such as floods and earthquake magnitude.

This raises the red flag underscoring the need for an end-to-end system that covers physical and transition risks. Risk undetermined is risk unresolved. Manual determination of climate risk at the advent of a climate event is reactive and not just-in-time when decisions need to be taken to prevent loss of lives, businesses, and assets. Artificial intelligence-based climate risk determination, designed at the intersection of climate science and built environment evidence-based learnings is near real time, thereby providing at least 72 hours of mobilization effort when nature isn’t kind. AI-based risk determination bundled with digitized planning and actions and scalable adoption builds climate resilience at every step, a.k.a Resilience360.

India’s technology sector has been in the forefront of climate mitigation such as carbon accounting. Today it is imperative to work at the intersection of technology and adaptation – decoding the complex and unpredictable nature of climate and building climate resilience is the future resolve.

Important steps are creating awareness about climate resilience gap, adaptation deficit and cost of inaction. Looking for solutions that could systematically solve for climate resilience gap for organizations, both public and private, by complementing their climate mitigation investment with an automated climate adaptation system – are an urgent priority.

Currently at the beta level of our work, we welcome the RBI’s guidelines as it will put into place the importance of early climate impact systems to protect communities and companies small and large.

The authors of this article are Samhita R., Managing Partner at STS Global, and Co-Founder and CEO of Resilience AI, along with Sushmita Malaviya, a Climate tech consultant.

Climate Change’s Costly Toll: Businesses Face Trillion-Dollar Risks.

admin — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 16:22:05 +0000

Climate Change's Costly Toll: Businesses Face Trillion-Dollar Risks

As we navigate this era of climate uncertainty, the convergence of business continuity and climate resilience becomes not just a strategy for survival but a pathway to thriving in a rapidly changing world

As climate change continues to redefine global landscapes, businesses face unprecedented challenges that test their preparedness. The urgency of integrating robust business continuity strategies is underscored by the financial repercussions of neglecting these evolving climate risks. This new era demands a proactive approach to safeguard business operations and ensure long-term sustainability amidst an increasingly unpredictable climate behaviour.

At the forefront of business continuity is the safety of people, infrastructure, both workspace and industrial units, and business assets. In the event of climate events, extreme temperatures, and natural disasters, the ability of a business to minimise damage, the cost of recovery, and restore operations hinges on the preparedness of the company for mitigating climate risk, primarily physical risk. This requirement has shifted organisational focus towards building robust climate resilience at every step. It's no longer about merely bouncing back but also doing so efficiently and effectively. This shift not only ensures business longevity but also plays a crucial role in building climate adaptation as a culture.

The Financial Implications of Climate Change

Building resilience isn't just a socio-environmental imperative; it's a financial one.

The financial impacts of climate change on business are enormous and multifaceted. Supply chains, one of the most vulnerable aspects of modern business operations, face significant risks from climate-induced disruptions. Gartner predicts a threefold increase in supply chain disruptions due to labour shortages by 2026 as a direct result of climate change. This calls into question how supply chains should respond to the ongoing impacts of climate change, which are already being felt. These impacts extend beyond the environmental devastation caused by wildfires, floods, and freezes.

The financial implications of ignoring these risks are staggering, the cost of inaction potentially exceeding $ 30 trillion annually. This staggering amount underlines the necessity for proactive climate adaptation strategies in safeguarding supply chains and, by extension, global trade.

The manufacturing sector faces direct and indirect impacts from climate change, challenging its operational continuity and efficiency. increased incidence of extreme weather events—such as hurricanes and floods—threatens manufacturing facilities, disrupts production lines, and leads to costly downtime and repairs. Additionally, climate change affects the availability of raw materials, leading to supply chain disruptions and increased production costs.

Climate events significantly influence commodity prices, directly impacting business continuity across sectors. For example, severe flooding can devastate coffee plantations, leading to substantial losses in crop yield and a spike in global coffee prices. Similarly, agricultural yields in general are vulnerable to erratic weather patterns, including droughts and excessive rainfall, which disrupt planting cycles and reduce output.

Regulatory mandates around risk disclosure are also becoming increasingly stringent. In the United States, around 2,800 corporations are mandated to disclose their physical risk exposure due to climate change. Similarly, India, which hosts over 1,000 U.S.-headquartered MNCs and numerous local enterprises, is also tightening its disclosure requirements. Specifically, the Reserve Bank of India announced the 'Draft Disclosure Framework on Climate-related Financial Risks, 2024', which was released on February 28, 2024, following their policy statement on February 8, 2023. This framework mandates enhanced financial disclosures related to climate risks for regulated entities. These mandates are not mere formalities; they represent a growing recognition of climate risk in the corporate governance landscape.

Climate Goals and Business Strategies

Today's climate goals are complex and multidimensional. The unpredictable nature of climate change demands that organisations not only set dynamic and comprehensive goals but also invest significantly in narrowing the climate resilience gap. This investment is not without merit. It presents a lucrative opportunity for climate actors, as demonstrated by companies like SunFinder, Fairbanc, and Captain Fresh and initiatives like the Green Climate Fund.

These organisations have developed proven business models that effectively balance portfolio risk while delivering notable returns on investment. Their success stories serve as models for others, highlighting the benefits of integrating climate considerations into business strategies.

The Opportunity in Climate Adaptation

The global climate adaptation market presents a $2 trillion per year opportunity by 2026. The market opportunity of climate adaptation presents significant rewards for governments, investors, corporations, and climate funds

The potential for climate adaptation is immense and impacts nearly every industry. From inevitable supply chain disruptions to real estate damage, declining agricultural productivity, and increased financial risks, the effects of climate change are far-reaching. However, within these challenges lie opportunities. By adapting to these changes, businesses can mitigate risks and even discover new avenues for growth and innovation.

For instance, the financial sector is increasingly recognising the need to factor in climate-related risks in their investment and lending decisions. The hazard insurance premium has doubled in North America. Physical risk disclosure for mortgaged assets in India would follow the same path. This could be underwritten using climate risk measurement. The agriculture and real estate sectors are innovating to create more resilient practices and infrastructure. The damages from climate change-related events, which run into billions per event, underscore the urgency and potential profitability of investing in climate resilience.

Conclusion

While the costs of inaction are daunting, the opportunities presented by proactive climate resilience strategies are equally significant. Businesses and governments must recognise and act on these opportunities. Integrating business continuity planning with climate adaptation strategies by using an automated and AI based climate risk management system, and using built-environment (or building structure) innovation, they not only contribute to the broader goal of mitigating climate change impacts but also unlock new growth potentials and secure a more sustainable and resilient future for their operations. As we navigate this era of climate uncertainty, the convergence of business continuity and climate resilience becomes not just a strategy for survival but a pathway to thriving in a rapidly changing world.

(Dr. Anshu Sharma is the Co-Founder of STS Global.)

Beat the heat: Building heat resilience in Delhi NCR

admin — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 12:35:43 +0000

Beat the heat: Building heat resilience in Delhi NCR

Vivekanand Camp, situated in Delhi, India, is a densely populated urban area covering around 2.15 square kilometers.

Community faces numerous challenges, primarily its susceptibility to heatwaves due to tightly packed housing and limited rooftop detection capabilities, resulting in inadequate protection.

Social & physical impact of extreme heat & need for interventions to enhance the climate and disaster resilience is carved out with Beat The Heat campaign

Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail link Project (USBRL)

admin — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 12:05:18 +0000

Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail link Project (USBRL): Mitigating Risk, One Station at a Time with AI

The Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) worked closely with Resilience AI to draft Disaster Risk report associated with flood & earthquake risk

2

Cities

time span for 360 degree climate planning

4

Decades

Rooftop architecture database, for risk score algorithm & BE

33,000

Hours

Projected pilot run time of initiation of the pilot order by the city

Opportunity

Enhancing Disaster Response Precision

A vital transportation link traversing faces constant threats from natural disasters. Floods and earthquakes pose a significant risk to the railway line's infrastructure, stations, and surrounding communities. To ensure the safety and uninterrupted operation of the railway sought a proactive solution to identify and mitigate these risks.

Solution

Optimized Disaster Preparedness

ResSolv utilizes high-resolution satellite imagery, meteorological data, & other relevant parameters to assess vulnerabilities within a 1 km buffer zone around each of the 27 stations along the Railway line.

Flood Risk Assessment: Identifies areas prone to inundation and categorizes buildings based on their vulnerability.

Earthquake Risk Assessment: Analyzes seismic hazards and pinpoints infrastructure susceptible to damage.

GIS (Geographical Information Systems) Integration: Presents risk scores through interactive maps, enabling targeted mitigation strategies.

Impact

Proactive Disaster Risk Mitigation

Prioritized Risk Mitigation: identifying high & moderate-risk areas, focusing resources on the most vulnerable locations.

Infrastructure Protection: Pinpoint critical infrastructure like stations, bridges, & tracks that require strengthening

Data-driven Decision Making: KRCL can leverage the AI-generated data to make informed decisions about resource allocation, retrofitting plans, and long-term disaster preparedness strategies.

" ResSolv AI model empowers organizations to proactively address potential disaster risks Through targeted mitigation strategies this risk report enhances the operational reliability of the Railway, ensuring the vital transportation needs of the region are met for years to come. "

Cities on climate AI: A Disaster Risk Modelling Breakthrough

admin — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 09:24:49 +0000

Cities on climate AI: A Disaster Risk Modelling Breakthrough

Resilience AI utilizing both existing climate intelligence sources as well as proprietary Risk Intelligence Software –ResSolvTM provides risk scores at building level by integrating AI with ground-truthing intel to meet customer needs.

17

Cities

Hazard risk determination

4

Climate Types

Using one AI model

33,000

Households

Using one AI model

20 locations with hazard risk assessments 9000+ Ground Truthing Surveys Done

Opportunity

Granular Insights to climate hazards

Cities are unique with greater threat to disasters. Capturing risk variations across each building and city functionaries' life cycle is quintessential. ResSolvTM does just that, at granular level of detail in risk assessment it provides results and actionable insights in near real time, which is not possible with any other tool currently available in the country Empowering local authorities with scalable solutions, open-source flexibility, it has proven efficacy demonstrated in successful Indian city pilots.

The disaster risk report to aid in transformation of climate hazard planning alongside the product development & engineering geared for advanced industrial-grade applications, systems & subsystems across cities

Solution

Granular Insights to climate hazards

Resilience AI team worked pilots in 17 Indian cities covering 100,000 buildings across 500 sq.km, addressing diverse climate challenges. Using the 'uniqueness of fingerprint' principle, we create unique data records for every roof at the building level. With successful pilots in 17 Indian cities covering 100,000 buildings across 500 sq.km, addressing diverse climate challenges Model run for heatwave was built and operated with the customer using ResSolvTM, our AI and machine learning climate risk assessment tool.

Impact

Evidence based application in Pilot AOI

With local partnerships, over 68,000 multi-lingual advisories were disseminated to all the households within area of interest across 17 cities mobilizing communities, government, and emergency responders. Empowered residents with crucial information to prepare for and respond to various hazards effectively. The collaboration with local partners strengthened the network of support and coordination among stakeholders, thereby contributing to more coordinated and efficient disaster response efforts.