Assessing Climate Risks & Building Resilience
Carl Spevacek
September 8, 2025
Given the potential financial, operational, and reputational impacts, it’s important for organizations to stay on top of these risks from a compliance, operations, and commercial perspective. However, doing so is easier said than done.
There are several common challenges companies face, including:
- Access to data to incorporate into climate risk assessments and translating findings to business terms
- The complexity of climate modeling and scenario analysis
- Navigating the inconsistency and, at times, ambiguity of regulatory regimes and other external stakeholder requests and expectations
- Translating results and insights into actionable steps
Companies can get started by assessing potentially applicable regulatory regimes and engaging stakeholders to assess the relative importance of material concerns. Internal education and cross-functional communication are also fundamental early steps.
Climate-related considerations for business are further complicated by uncertainty and long-term time horizons of related risks and opportunities. Investment and building internal capacity are needed for success, so buy-in from organizational leadership is critical from the start.
As a company progresses, it may consider conducting more detailed risk and scenario analysis and materiality assessment. Various frameworks are available that can be leveraged to provide additional guidance for next steps.
Beyond addressing stakeholder expectations and managing relevant business risks,
by systematically evaluating physical and transitional risks and opportunities, companies can also identify outright potential opportunities related to their business; risk mitigation pathways can also uncover additional opportunities.
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About the Author
Carl Spevacek
Aeterra
Carl Spevacek has worked as an environmental and ESG professional since 2011 and specializes in ESG advisory, M&A, and compliance services. Carl has a Master of Science from the University of Michigan and has completed the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) certification. He has completed and overseen hundreds of buy-side and sell-side environmental and ESG diligence projects and has worked with financial advisory and strategic buyers, lenders, attorneys, insurers, and other parties involved in transactions. He oversees Aeterra’s ESG consulting solutions, including advisory, due diligence, and sustainability consulting projects. He also guides private equity firms, other financial investors, and corporate clients on ESG and sustainability strategies. His specialty areas include ESG policy development and implementation, training, portfolio key performance indicator development and tracking, and corporate ESG initiatives and reporting. In his spare time, Carl enjoys outdoor activities, cooking, and volunteering for a local dog rescue agency (Last Hope K9 Rescue).