ABSTRACT
Climate change is one of the largest challenges facing organisations worldwide. While more is known about different ways to tackle greenhouse gas reductions across organisations, there is also a need to start focusing on how an organisation can adapt to the emerging impacts of climate change across its portfolios. Climate change brings significant threats to business viability (impacts on supply chains) and operations but also to the well-being of staff who might themselves become impacted by floods, fires and other extreme events. Climate change adaptation is about preparing now to face future threats that arise from climate change; it is the second pillar of any sensible climate policy or strategy. Yet, most organisations do not understand adaptation given the strong focus on reducing emissions, and hence leadership in adaptation remains an unexplored yet crucial area in climate risk management. This chapter focuses specifically on what climate change adaptation is, which specific qualities and capabilities can support robust climate change adaptation at different levels in organisations and what steps are already being taken globally by different organisations to adapt. It will provide a key scholarly contribution in defining climate adaptation leadership, as well as its different components and principles, and provide a robust set of principles for organisations to consider in adapting to both short- and long-term climate change.
