Resilience First (RF) and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) have partnered to strengthen organizations’ resilience to the impacts of climate change through a series of virtual and in-person dialogues with invited companies across industry sectors and other key stakeholders.
This in-depth foresight series from Resilience First (RF) and C2ES will help businesses strengthen their resilience to the impacts of climate change. Participants will have opportunities to discuss and learn about the evolving business impacts and risks presented by physical climate impacts and the emerging corporate strategies to address them. Discussions will also touch on the trade-offs and potential opportunities for deeper organizational investment in resilience. The goal is to help companies develop better strategies, connect with peers, and access resources that might help serve as a practical guide to climate adaptation.
Through virtual and in-person events, the corporate dialogue series is designed to:
By combining expertise and leveraging extensive global networks of businesses, RF and C2ES are convening leading companies to examine how climate change is a threat multiplier in a 2- and 3-degree world, and how businesses can strengthen their climate resilience across five organizational dimensions:
Each 1.5-hour virtual session will introduce and explore a key dimension of organizational resilience and feature leading experts and companies to kickstart facilitated dialogues. The format will encourage individual reflection and peer-to-peer sharing, with sessions held under the Chatham house rule to promote candid discussion.
Overarching insights from the series discussions will be collected and anonymized in a whitepaper to be shared publicly to advance private sector action more broadly.
Discussions may also explore evaluating trade-offs in building resilience, identifying business opportunities from climate resilience, and how to approach internal governance to ensure climate resilience.
Representatives from participating companies are invited to join the full slate of dialogues to benefit from the curated arc of programming and develop their network of other resilience practitioners across global companies. Participants are invited to actively engage and offer candid insights and perspectives.
This session will examine how companies are addressing the impacts of climate change on the natural resources on which their organizations rely.
This session will examine how companies are approaching climate impacts that disrupt a company’s operations, supply chains, key infrastructure and physical assets and service delivery.
This session will focus on how companies are approaching climate impacts on their workforces and human-led operations.
This session will consider how companies are approaching the impact of climate change on the financial resilience of their organizations.
This in-person convening will take place during London Climate Action Week and will explore how a company’s resilience is impacted by external social relationships and societal resilience and the approaches companies are taking to engage communities on the impacts of climate change.
This concluding session will bring together the key insights and learnings from the dialogue series, exploring how governance can play a key role in addressing vulnerabilities to climate impacts and enhancing climate resilience capabilities.
For over two decades, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) has been at the forefront of advancing bold, practical solutions to climate change. As a trusted climate think tank, we bridge the gap between science, policy, and business, helping organizations navigate the complexities of a changing climate. Foundational to our work is our Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC), a group of mostly Fortune 500 global companies who are leading in their sectors to reduce climate impacts, to provide insights on advancing climate action that is both practical and ambitious.
Today, as climate change reshapes the business landscape, uncertainty is the new normal. The stakes are higher than ever, and the impacts of climate change continue to cascade and proliferate, and the need for foresight—both for the near term and for the longer term—has never been greater. Through our Corporate Climate Resilience Pathways Initiative, we aim to deepen understanding and build a vibrant community of practice around businesses seeking to advance climate resilience in their operations, value chains, and in the communities where they operate.
Resilience First was borne out of a need to bring companies together to collectively address the changing security environment of the 21st Century, by sharing knowledge, collaborating on innovative solutions and identifying actions that built resilience for cities and companies that operate within them.
Today we are doing the same thing with building resilience to the impact of climate change. Resilience First co-runs an annual climate resilience program, bringing together businesses to identify actions they can take and ensure their long-term viability.
In 2021 Resilience First became a Partner in the UN-backed Race to Resilience, the first business network to be accepted into the campaign, acting as a catalyzer for corporate action on climate resilience. Resilience First also directly participates in the UNFCCC process as an official Observer, convening sessions at the annual Conference of Parties to showcase innovations and case studies on climate resilience from within the private sector.
Since 2024 our priority has been to help our members strengthen their resilience through a ‘whole of system’ and ‘whole of society’ approach. At the core of our work is our Model for Organizational Resilience, providing an integrated, measurement-led approach and an international standard on resilience.