Hong Kong firms must step up climate-risk reviews amid imminent threat to assets - South China Morning Post
Climate change: Hong Kong firms must improve climate-risk assessments because of imminent threat to assets, incoming global standards, analytics firm says | South China Morning Post
Broken office windows at One Harbourfront in Hong Kong’s Hung Hom district after Typhoon Mangkhut struck the city in September 2018. Photo: Dickson Lee
Climate change: Hong Kong firms must improve climate-risk assessments because of imminent threat to assets, incoming global standards, analytics firm says
- Threat of climate change to assets is more imminent than many people think, says Entela Benz of climate modelling start-up Intensel
- ‘Physical losses are already happening,’ former UBS banker says
Broken office windows at One Harbourfront in Hong Kong’s Hung Hom district after Typhoon Mangkhut struck the city in September 2018. Photo: Dickson Lee
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”