Practitioner Insights: Adapting to Climate Adaptation: Implications and Opportunities for the Private Sector

These developments present implications and opportunities for the private sector. A climate adaptation project is in many ways like any other, requiring planning, financing, design and engineering, entitlements, construction, operation and maintenance. But its planning and objectives will incorporate resilience from the outset, with resistance to anticipated climate stresses taken into account at all stages.

The terms ‘‘climate adaptation’’ and ‘‘climate resilience’’ generally refer to the ability of society, infrastructure and ecosystems to withstand and recover from the consequences of climate change. In the early years of public concern with global warming, when climate scientists first suggested giving thought to adaptation, many environmental advocates and regulators viewed the subject with suspicion, as undercutting the effort to control greenhouse gas emissions. Today, that view has changed. High-profile and controversial initiatives, such as the Paris Climate Agreement and the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan, emphasize emission reductions. But regardless of whether one believes that climate change is human-caused or a naturally occurring phenomenon, the prospect of more frequent intense weather, extended droughts and rising seas is prompting widespread concern, leading to renewed discussion on the need to prepare for a warmer world.

Much of the attention to date is at the government level, focused on land use and development policies and public infrastructure projects. But there are also implications and opportunities for the private sector. A climate adaptation project is in many ways like any other project, requiring planning, financing, design and engineering, entitlements, construction, operation and maintenance—but with resistance to anticipated climate stresses taken into account at all stages. In the near term, project developers and the construction and other industries can expect to benefit from increased public agency planning and investment to enhance climate resilience. More broadly, engaging with climate adaptation can provide companies, particularly those with infrastructure-heavy and development-oriented business models, with an opportunity to adapt their own plans, investments and activities to reduce vulnerability to a changing climate and to protect their long term interests through strategic business planning and project design.

Download: Practitioner Insights: Adapting to Climate Adaptation: Implications and Opportunities for the Private Sector