business continuity

The Cost Of Climate Change

According to a survey
completed by KPMG,
nearly 60%
of Canadian small-
and medium-sized businesses
have been directly impacted
by extreme weather events
thus far
in 2023.

54% saw a substantial increase
in their costs.
44% reported direct losses
in revenue.
51% experienced supply chain disruptions.
45% said their facilities were damaged.
And 41% had to relocate their operations
or move to alternative facilities.

THIS is why
climate change is a business building issue.

THIS is why
I talk about it here
on client k.

The extreme impacts
of climate change
are merely beginning
world-wide.

If we want to be successful,
especially long term,
we have to prepare for this.

Doron Telem,
national ESG leader
at KPMG in Canada,
states

“To address the new reality,
companies need to have
business-interruption plans
at the ready
and will also require
stronger, more robust
climate resiliency
and adaptation plans.”

Climate change is a business issue.
Address it.

If An Asset Is Old…

Our household’s
10 year old
purchased used
car
broke down.

It is taking a while
to repair.

And that is okay.

Because we kept
our previous much older car
as a potential backup.

I try to have backups
for all my older assets.

There is a replacement
for my 5 plus year old printer
in a closet.

I have multiple spare laptops
and keyboards
and other essential-for-my-business
devices.

If a device or other asset
is old
yet essential for your business,
invest
in a backup.

(This backup could be purchased used
or simply be the still functional device
the latest device replaced.)

Scan Crucial Information

Recently,
I scanned
a bunch of photos
borrowed from older generations.

A family had lost
all their photos
so I gave them virtual copies
of the photos we had
featuring
their family members
and their ancestors.

That won’t replace
all the photos
that were taken from them.
Many of those photos
had no copies.

But it gave them
SOME photos,
some visual tracking of history.

I gave everyone access
to the drive
where the scans are stored.
EVERYONE can have a copy.
That means the images should
never be completely lost.

What does this have
to do with building a business?

There are some documents
that you likely only have
in hard copy.

If these documents
are important to your business,
scan them
in case a fire, flood, theft
or something else happens
and they are lost to you.

Drought And Electricity

I can’t run
any of my businesses
without electricity.

In my city,
most of the electricity
is sourced
from hydro,
from water-based technologies.

That means
droughts impact
electricity supply.

(This is also true
of nuclear-sourced electricity
as nuclear requires
a lot of water.)

I monitor the water levels.

I have purchased batteries
to store electricity.

I plan to install
solar panels.

If you can’t run your business
without a resource,
know what drives
the availability
of that resource.

Monitor that driver.

And plan for alternatives.

This is one
of our responsibilities
as business builders.