Business leaders and experts react to the IPCC climate change report – ‘The report reinforces what we already know from looking all around us – that climate change is having an impact on people’s lives today, and that the impacts to come will be broad and substantial’

By Jenny Purt, Laura Paddison, and Jennifer Kho
1 April 2014 (theguardian.com) – The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, meant to represent the global consensus on the state of climate-change science, came out Monday. Read the Guardian’s extensive coverage of the report, including:

• Climate change report: ‘The worst is yet to come’ – as it happened
• Climate change report: five key points
• Climate change: the poor will suffer most
• Climate change ‘already affecting food supply’ – UN

We’ve collected reactions from business leaders, thought leaders and experts here and will update this article with more comments throughout the day. Christine Bader, author of The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil

Most companies have people deep inside their ranks who have known for a long time what the IPCC report confirms: that the threat of climate change is serious and imminent, and presents risks not just to ecosystems but to business. The IPCC report should create more space for those people in companies to push forward the policies and programs that will mitigate risks to both their bottom line and to individuals and communities around the world. […]

Kathrin Winkler, senior vice-president and chief sustainability officer of EMC Corp

The IPCC report reinforces what we already know from looking all around us – that climate change is having an impact on people’s lives today, and that the impacts to come will be broad and substantial. Companies that will thrive in the future are those that recognize and respond to climate change as an expanding driver of both risk and opportunity; that introduce new innovations both to reduce and adapt to the coming changes in ways that protect and enhance quality of life globally.

Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer and executive vice president at SAP:

For the most impact, companies need to find ways to minimize carbon emissions that are integral to how they create value. For example, consumer goods companies would look at their extended supply chain. Or software companies would look at the environmental impact of their data centers. […]

Zoe Knight, director, climate change strategy, global banking and markets at HSBC

There are differential regional risks from climate change, but we think the report conclusions provide added impetus for policymakers to integrate robust adaptation plans into national development strategies – bedding in resilience to future disruption. The politics around maintaining industrial competitiveness has side-lined climate policy in some cases, now the WGII report provides a stark warning of the potential disruption in the future if policymakers get distracted from climate. The far reaching impacts of climate change affect the global economy in all regions, but particularly for the livelihoods of the poor. We believe the evidence presented by the IPCC provides impetus for policymakers to set out and implement national goals in the run-up to a 2015 global deal, and for business and investors to act in line with delivering a low-carbon economy. [more]