April 20, 2023
CelsiusPro leads assessment of global climate change impact on Swiss economy
Global Supply Chains © Adobe Stock/Travel Mania

In a globally interconnected economy, adverse climate events can crucially impact supply chains and national economies around the world. To ensure resilience and sustained competitiveness, it is essential to understand which climate risks are embedded in a country’s value chain.

It is one of the goals of the National Centre for Climate Services (NCCS) – founded in 2015 by the Federal Office of the Environment (FOEN) and the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) together with other federal offices and institutions – to minimize climate-related risks and recognize opportunities in Switzerland. With its programme “Decision Support for Dealing with Climate Change in Switzerland: a cross-sectoral approach (NCCS-Impacts)” several cross-sectoral projects that support climate-smart decision-making were put to tender.

CelsiusPro is pleased to announce that the consortium it built was mandated to conduct the NCCS Global Impacts project. The aim of this project is to execute an in-depth analysis of the impacts of global climate change on Switzerland's economic performance as well as on its food and pharmaceutical supply chains. The conclusions of the analysis will result in the creation and publication of a web tool enabling the Swiss industrial sector to visualize climate change projections and adaptation recommendations by means of an interactive map.

“CelsiusPro is honored to have received this mandate,” says CelsiusPro CEO Mark Rueegg. “Climate change is one of our planet’s most pressing issues and we are proud to contribute in this manner to strengthening the resilience and safeguarding the competitiveness of the Swiss economy in relation to climate risk.”

“As Swiss companies are exposed to physical climate risk across the world through their supply chains and sales markets, it is vital to quantify climate impacts and develop recommendations for future risk mitigation and adaptation,” says Samuel Brown, Head of CelsiusPro’s Climate Risk Insights and Solutions (CRIS) team.

CelsiusPro is grateful to the partners who accepted to join this consortium as each will play a key role in bringing the project to successful completion: EBP Schweiz AG, Correntics, Risk Dialogue Foundation and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ).

As the project leader, CelsiusPro will oversee and integrate all partner contributions.

The Weather and Climate Risks Group at ETH Zurich headed by Prof. Dr. David N. Bresch will support the NCCS Global Impacts project conceptually and collaborate with project partners in the use of its open-source and open-access global platform for probabilistic multi-hazard risk modelling and options appraisal (CLIMADA). The assessment of underlying fundamental data generated by CLIMADA will serve as the basis upon which data will be interpreted and climate mitigation and adaptation recommendations will be elaborated.

In collaboration with Zurich-based tech start-up Correntics, CelsiusPro will apply CLIMADA’s capabilities. Correntics supports companies in future-proofing supply chains and improving climate resilience using data-driven analytics solutions.

Consulting firm EBP Schweiz AG will source key data for modelling as well as produce and communicate the web tool, which will display an interactive map indicating projected climate hazards and impacts on Swiss production chains. “We’re looking forward to supporting Swiss companies in their transition to climate resilient business models,” says Julia Brandes, EBP Project Manager and Research Associate.

The Risk Dialogue Foundation will identify dependence structures within the Swiss industrial supply chains and engage with Swiss industrial stakeholders to create awareness regarding climate risk exposure. As it identifies, in dialogue with these stakeholders, which challenges and needs they face, the foundation will match them with the capabilities offered by the data modelling web tool.

While the NCCS Global Impacts project will provide an outlook to 2060, the web tool and associated recommendations will be made accessible to the general public in 2025 with the aim to facilitate risk adaptation and strengthen resilience to foreseen impacts starting at an early stage.

One of the main roles of CelsiusPro’s CRIS team is to help companies better understand climate risks, fulfil mandatory climate-related financial disclosures, and adopt mitigation and adaptation measures. Through the NCCS-Impacts project, it looks forward to further strengthening these consultancy offerings.

For further information, please contact Samuel Brown, Head of CelsiusPro’s Climate Risk Insights and Solutions (CRIS) team.