Key findings
- 48% of organisations have assessed their physical climate risk, fully or partly.
- 12% have a formal, board-approved adaptation plan.
- 34% see material physical risk to the business and have no plan for it.
- 17% let workers shape decisions about the energy transition.
How many companies have assessed their physical climate risk?
About half. Among 500 sustainability decision-makers in the US and UK, 48% say their organisation has conducted a formal physical climate risk assessment, in full or in part.
How many have a climate adaptation plan?
One in eight. Only 12% have a formal adaptation plan approved by the board. Most organisations that have done the assessment have not turned it into a plan.
Half have assessed the risk. One in eight has a plan for it
View data
| Answer | % |
|---|---|
| Have assessed physical climate risk, fully or partly | 48% |
| Have a formal, board-approved adaptation plan | 12% |
How many see the risk and have no plan?
A third. 34% of organisations say physical climate events pose a material financial risk to the business over the next ten years and have no adaptation plan.
That is nearly three times the number who have one.
Seeing the risk is not the same as planning for it
Why isn't the assessment becoming a plan?
Because of why it was commissioned. Physical risk work is often done to satisfy a disclosure requirement, not to change an operating decision. The report gets written, the box is ticked and nothing moves.
It is the same pattern as the funding gap on net zero targets, applied to a risk with no opt-out. A missed target is an embarrassment. A flooded site is a closed site.
Our UK business research shows how far down the list this sits outside sustainability teams. Only 13% of senior decision-makers say climate and physical risk will shape their long-term planning, last of ten factors. Yet 5% say extreme weather caused their most serious disruption of the last two years.
Are workers involved in transition planning?
Rarely. 17% of organisations say workers shape decisions about the energy transition. In the rest, the people whose jobs and sites are affected are informed after the fact, or not at all.
What this means
There are two climate questions for any business. What are we doing about our emissions, and what is the climate going to do to us. Most of the attention, the targets and the reporting sit with the first.
For boards and risk committees, three checks:
- Has a physical risk assessment been done, and who read it?
- Did it change a decision about a site, a supplier or an insurance policy?
- If the answer to the second is no, what was it for?
Frequently asked questions
How many companies have a climate adaptation plan?
12% of organisations have a formal, board-approved climate adaptation plan, according to a survey of 500 US and UK sustainability decision-makers by The Reality Department.
How many companies have assessed their physical climate risk?
48% have conducted a formal physical climate risk assessment, fully or partly.
Are businesses prepared for physical climate risk?
Most are not. 34% see material physical risk to the business over the next ten years and have no plan for it.
Methodology
The Reality Department surveyed 500 sustainability decision-makers: 250 in the United States and 250 in the United Kingdom. Fieldwork: August 2026. UK business planning figures come from the Business Reality Index (500 senior UK decision-makers).
Related: What disrupts UK businesses?
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