Climate Adaptation and Resilience Planning

Introduction

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of floods, heatwaves, droughts, storms and wildfires. These hazards damage facilities, disrupt supply chains, affect worker health and change customer demand, while investors and regulators increasingly expect organisations to understand and disclose their physical climate risks.

This Climate Adaptation and Resilience Planning training course helps organisations assess their exposure to physical climate risks and plan practical adaptation measures. Participants learn how to use climate scenarios and hazard data, assess site and supply chain vulnerability, prioritise adaptation options, integrate climate risk into continuity and investment planning and report climate resilience to stakeholders.

The course focuses on practical decision making under uncertainty and on measures that deliver benefits across a range of possible futures.

Course Objectives

By the end of this training course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the physical risks of climate change for organisations
• Interpret climate scenarios and hazard data for decision making
• Assess the vulnerability of sites, assets, people and supply chains
• Identify and prioritise adaptation options
• Integrate climate risk into continuity, risk and investment planning
• Plan emergency response for extreme weather events
• Engage stakeholders in adaptation planning
• Report climate resilience and adaptation progress

Target Audience

This training course is suitable for a wide range of professionals, including:

• Business continuity and resilience professionals
• Sustainability and environmental managers
• Risk managers
• Facilities, property and infrastructure managers
• Strategy and investment planners
• Public sector climate and emergency planners

Training Methodology

The course uses climate data examples, site case studies and adaptation planning tools. Participants assess climate hazards for sample sites, score vulnerability, evaluate adaptation options using multi-criteria analysis and develop an adaptation action plan. Extreme weather scenarios test response planning.

Target Competencies

• Climate hazard interpretation
• Vulnerability assessment
• Adaptation option appraisal
• Climate risk integration
• Extreme weather response planning
• Climate resilience reporting

Day One: Physical Climate Risks

• Climate change trends and projected impacts
• Acute hazards: floods, storms, heatwaves and wildfires
• Chronic hazards: sea level rise, drought and temperature shifts
• How physical risks affect operations and value
• Stakeholder and disclosure expectations on climate risk
• Lessons from recent extreme weather events
• Exercise: identifying climate hazards for your organisation

Day Two: Climate Scenarios and Data

• Understanding climate scenarios and time horizons
• Sources of climate and hazard data
• Interpreting flood, heat and storm maps
• Dealing with uncertainty in climate projections
• Downscaling global information to local sites
• Using data responsibly in decision making
• Workshop: interpreting hazard data for sample sites

Day Three: Vulnerability and Risk Assessment

• Assessing exposure and sensitivity of assets
• Impacts on workforce health and productivity
• Supply chain and logistics climate vulnerabilities
• Utility and infrastructure dependencies
• Scoring and prioritising climate risks
• Integrating climate risk into enterprise risk registers
• Exercise: climate vulnerability assessment

Day Four: Adaptation Planning

• Types of adaptation: protect, accommodate and relocate
• Engineering and nature-based adaptation options
• Operational and behavioural adaptation measures
• Appraising options with cost, benefit and flexibility
• Adaptation pathways and decision points
• Funding and investment planning for adaptation
• Workshop: appraising adaptation options

Day Five: Response, Integration and Reporting

• Extreme weather emergency and continuity plans
• Early warning systems and trigger actions
• Embedding adaptation into strategy and capital planning
• Engaging communities and partners in resilience
• Reporting climate resilience to stakeholders
• Monitoring progress and reviewing plans
• Personal action plan for climate adaptation