Impact of risks from climate change on business resilience | Ben Scheltus
At the recent BCI Summit in Sydney, Ben Scheltus gave a presentation on the impact of risks from climate change on business resilience.
A combination of factors makes climate change a particularly notable risk for Australian businesses. On a global basis, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report has identified climate change as a “High Impact” and “High Likelihood” risk. Australian businesses should treat this serious risk in the same manner as any other business risk.
Australia is particularly exposed because it is already subject to extremes in weather; its distance from other global markets increases the fragility of our supply chains; the age of our power generation infrastructure and our heavy dependence on sea transport (for imports and exports). Recently there was a discussion as to whether climate change risks were becoming too great in Australia for the insurance industry to insure.
ASIC update guidance on climate change related disclosure
‘While disclosure is critical, it is but one aspect of prudent corporate governance practices in connection with the mitigation of legal risks. Directors should be able to demonstrate that they have met their legal obligations in considering, managing and disclosing all material risks that may affect their companies. This includes any risks arising from climate change, be they physical or transitional risks.’ Mr Price said.
Transport chaos across England and Wales after major power cuts | The Guardian
Creditors Start Asking Coastal Cities For Their Climate Plans | Bloomberg Environment
Financial credit rating institutions want answers from coastal cities about how they’re preparing for climate-change impacts like sea level rise and whether they can pay for their adaptation plans, the mayor of Honolulu said July 17.
Climate Change - Awareness to Action | APRA
Climate change risks to Australian Businesses | Ben Scheltus for the RMIA The risk magazine
When doing your Risk Assessments, please be mindful of the physical and transition risks presented by climate change. For three years in a row, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report (GRR) has called out the risks we collectively face from climate change. In the 2019 report published in February, climate change and environmental risks dominate the “high likelihood” and “high impact” quadrant of the global risk matrix. Read the article here.
Click here to view the RMIA Risk Magazine April edition. Please note the magazine is for RMIA members only.
Security Incident Response | AWS White Paper
AWS has published a guide to assist their clients understand the basic concepts of security incident response within their AWS environment. It presents an overview of the fundamentals of responding to security incidents within a customer’s AWS cloud environment, including an overview of cloud security and incident response concepts, identifies cloud capabilities, services, and mechanisms that are available to customers for responding to security issues.
You can download the white paper here, or click on the link below to view all AWS white papers.
Boeing’s 737 Max: 1960s Design, 1990s Computing Power and Paper Manuals | NYT
The Max, Boeing’s best-selling model, with more than 5,000 orders, is suddenly a reputational hazard. It could be weeks or months before regulators around the world lift their ban on the plane, after Boeing’s expected software fix was delayed.
Former fire chiefs warn Australia unprepared for escalating climate threat | The Guardian
“It’s just frustrating to hear the lip service being given to ‘Oh yes, we now believe in climate change and need to do something’ when every effort to do something about it is rubbished.”
APRA's Policy Priorities 2019
APRA has recently announced its priorities for 2019. Please see below excerpts that are relevant to the operational risk management and the business continuity practitioners. See here for the full report.
“Operational risk and related standards
APRA has commenced an important project to update its existing prudential standards and guidance on outsourcing, business continuity and information security, which apply to entities in the banking, insurance and superannuation industries. The objective of this initiative is to align prudential requirements with industry better practice and community expectations for a high degree of resilience to material operational risk incidents.
In conjunction with these more technical standards, APRA’s intention is to issue broad-based expectations for operational risk management and resilience that align to the overarching risk management framework. APRA will take the opportunity to streamline existing requirements where appropriate.
The first stage of this project, involving a new prudential standard on information security was finalised in late 2018, with the new standard to commence on 1 July 2019. APRA will consult on associated guidance on information security in the first half of 2019. Subsequently, requirements for operational risk management and revised standards for business continuity and outsourcing (updated to cover service provision more broadly) will be the focus of consultation over the course of 2019.”
Our reading of the tea leaves is that there could well be considerable changes to the way APRA regulates the Australian finance market in the near term. The outcome of the Hayne Royal Commission and the looming risks from climate change means that it is likely that over the next twelve months our business continuity plans may need to be thoroughly reviewed.
Wells Fargo? Well fscked at the moment: Data center up in smoke, bank website, app down | The Register
Wells Fargo customers were unable to access their online bank accounts for more than seven hours – after smoke knackered one of its data centres.
Companies Most Exposed to Climate Change Risk | Barrons
“We’re steadily moving toward a new normal where billion-dollar disasters are a regular occurrence,” says Emilie Mazzacurati, founder and CEO of Four Twenty Seven. “This combination of extreme weather events and growing pressure from asset owners and regulators is pushing a lot of businesses to look for a way to understand their exposure and start managing their risks.”
Global Risks Report - 2019 | World Economic Forum
Environment-related risks dominate the report for the third year in a row, accounting for three of the top five risks by likelihood and four by impact. Extreme weather is again out on its own in the top-right (high-likelihood, high-impact) quadrant of the Global Risks Landscape 2019. The report can be downloaded here, or go to the WEF website for more information.
What is Business Continuity? | The BCI
The Business Continuity Institute wins 'Best Association Video’ at the UK Association Awards
Great Ocean Road at risk from erosion and rising sea levels | The Guardian
Yes, let’s pretend nothing has changed....
“The road has been there for 100 years and will continue to be there for many many years, decades to come.”