Mark Head of Climate Resilience and Sustainability Strategy at Nedbank Commercial BankingWatch as Nedbank Commercial Banking's Head of Climate Resilience and Sustainability Strategy Mark Boshoff takes us through what climate resilience means and why you should prepare your business for a sustainable future.limate change continues to be at the top of the agenda for both developing and developed nations. It brings with it unprecedented challenges.
“In a nutshell, we are faced with a very stark choice: prepare now or pay later. But it’s something that we all have to do and make a decision because no decision is also a decision."Resilience is broadly defined as the ability to bounce back. Boshoff characterises climate resilience and sustainability as something everyone in a business is responsible for; from level one employees right up to the CEO.
“You can mitigate by first cleaning up your own act by reducing your carbon footprint, reducing your emissions, and trying to get it going on that basis. It also looks at what happens when that event strikes you: Do you have adequate insurance? Are your supply chains in a position so that you can reorganise them?” he asks.As with any major global shift, climate change not only poses risks to the planet but also risks to your business operations.
“One of the opportunities is the demographic that is involved here. Think of millennials: They are very, very aware of climate change. They are the generation that is going to inherit this planet and if they decide that your company may not be on the right track, they can very quickly boycott you. Just think of the power someone like Greta Thunberg has got,” he adds.
Nedbank leads the way in its sector and is known as the 'green bank', helping businesses see the opportunities in climate resilience by creating various funding mechanisms to support the shift to more sustainability-focused business models.