The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) reported in 2023 (Extreme Weather & Climate Change Report 2023) that while just under half of survey participants (44.5%) “reported a moderate or significant impact from climate-related events during the past five years”.
It also reported that “organisational preparation for this area seems to be worsening, with 51.1% of respondents stating that their organisation does not have a dedicated climate risk budget (double the 25.1% without a budget in 2022)”.
The intervening years have done nothing to offset that risk and if anything, further compound it. With a “supersized” event expected this year, predictions are further significant direct impact on global weather disruptions and likely knock on effects with health and safety, supply chains and agriculture, to name but three.
Against this backdrop, in recent years, Europe and the Americas have also been experiencing the largest temperature increases and 10 of the warmest years on record so far have occurred since 2015. In 2024, the global mean annual temperature on land was 2.1 °C higher than the (1951-1980 calculated baseline, with:
- Europe on average 2.4 °C above the baseline, although the Western and Southern subregions 2.7 °C and 2.6 °C above the baseline; and
- The North America subregion went slightly further with a 2.8 °C rise on baseline.
Worldwide it is reported that approximately 67% of the world population and 73% of agricultural land experienced warming above 1.5 °C in 2024, so surpassing the Paris Agreement limit of 1.5 °C.
This means our thinking, in all fairness as has been flagged for the last few years and highlighted at COP 30 in Brazil last year, must shift from mitigation to adaptation.
Our 2026 Summer will not be unique, and we don’t yet know what an El Niño, likely to last until February 2027, is going to do either directly and indirectly, so are we learning the lessons and are we prepared?