Climate adaptation. Familiar frameworks, fresh thinking

Climate change adaptation, in some ways, is the perfect risk.

Risk management is about managing uncertainty and there is no uncertainty about climate change. It is happening. What we don’t know is the exact scale, timing, and nature of the impacts.

In some respects, this makes it easier to manage than many “traditional” risks that carry deep uncertainty about whether they’ll occur at all. With climate change, the task is not to decide if we should prepare, but how and when.

This is where recognised frameworks like ISO 31000 (Risk Management) and ISO 14090 (Adaptation to Climate Change) shine. They give us a clear, structured pathway to:

• Identify climate related hazards and vulnerabilities across operations, supply chains, and stakeholders.

• Assess likelihood and consequence, using both historic data and forward-looking climate projections.

• Design controls and strategies proportionate to your risk appetite.

• Embed adaptation into enterprise risk registers, governance processes, and investment decisions.

Fresh thinking means we don’t treat these as abstract compliance exercises. This involves adopting scenario modelling for climate effects as well as bringing finance, operations, HR, and procurement into the adaptation conversation not just sustainability teams.

How is your organisation integrating climate adaptation into its risk management framework? Contact ⚡Virtus Advisory⚡ to discuss.