00:00) Decarbonization decreases the size of the climate problem and adaptation anticipates and reduces the damage it causes. Your company can become resilient by design. Students and business professionals, senior middle management, they very often ask me if adaptation and mitigation are competing priorities.
(00:23)  Which one should I prioritize first? The reality is that companies that integrate decarbonization and climate adaptation in their strategies are more likely to be well prepared for a changed climate and to become future proof. Resilience is the key in integrating these two areas. What if I tell you that businesses that are ill prepared to deal with climate risk will lose 7 to 8% of their revenues by 2035.
(00:53)  Now, many people are extremely worried about uh the insurability of their investments, but decarbonization strategies, that is, interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation strategies, that is, interventions in human systems or in natural systems to adjust and adapt to the effects of climate, they need to be implemented and they need to be planned in combination.
(01:19)  We talk about co-benefits. And And those co-benefits are mutually reinforcing. But what sense makes if you have a circular product, a sustainable uh service, you have clean operations, and then you are you are complying with scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, if your facility is actually at risk from extreme weather events that can take away your investment in no time.
(01:48)  In 2024, the Valencia flash floods cost about 50 billion euros of losses. And sadly, more than 200 people lost their lives. There is a company in particular, a Swiss rail manufacturer, they actually reported losses for over 260 million euros. About 150,000 to 200,000 hours of personnel were lost. That implied a productivity loss cuz people could not come to the office and to the to the facility for weeks.
(02:20) And although they were not directly affected by the uh flash flood, many of their suppliers, about 30 to 40 suppliers, were. This is what is called cascade effect. So, a company that is, you know, is growing, a sector that is thriving, they were not directly touched by the flash floods, but their supply chain was.
(02:41) Now, what this example shows is that companies that can anticipate the risk, that can better absorb those risks, are more likely to adapt and to transform. What does this mean for business? Well, business managers can integrate and should integrate these strategies in a coordinated way. While you keep the focus on decarbonization according to the emission targets that have been developed or that have been set for the company, integrating climate risks and the incorporation of climate solu- climate adaptation solutions into
(03:13) investment planning, into procurement, into supply chain management, into product innovation becomes a new opportunity to um to to have a more integrated approach. But what is not being uh picked up by by media or by specialists or certainly not by business management is that we're also witnessing a massive market opportunity of adaptation and resilience solutions.
(03:38)  Deloitte Consulting has reported that the market for climate adaptation solutions is about 1.7 trillion US dollars a year, which is calling not only for venture activities in corporates, but also startups, to develop those solutions and to grab a part of the market. In France, we are preparing for a 4° C climate change.
(03:59)  Other parts of the world might be facing similar challenges. And if we are to work together to identify the best way to combine climate mitigation, decarbonization, and climate adaptation and resilience, we the most likely scenario is that we will become future-proof at the level of projects, at the level of investment opportunities, at the level of new building, but especially at the level of corporate strategies, so that ultimately, insurance and reinsurance doesn't become a burden in all of the new uh infrastructure or new development
(04:31) projects that companies will be performing. The market is there. Capabilities are there. It takes strategic alignment, and it takes vision of short-term, long-term decarbonization, adaptation, and resilience to make a business and to make our economy future-proof.