What We Learned About Climate Risk in 2023

Release Date: 01/18/2024

Why Food System Disruption Is the New Normal

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Stephanie Race, Founder & CEO of Earth Analytics Group, as we dive into the connections between physical climate risk, the global food supply chain, and systemic financial risk. As climate impacts intensify - from wildfires to water scarcity - these risks are no longer distant. They’re material, and they’re here to stay. This is most evident in our food system, where disrupted crop yields, shifting growing regions, and stressed supply chains are becoming the new normal. That’s why in this episode, we explore the vital and often overlooked links between climate...

Beyond 1.5°C: How to Think About Our New Climate Reality

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Laurie Laybourn, Executive Director of the Strategic Climate Risk Initiative, as we explore how climate risks change in a 1.5°C world. As we look increasingly certain to breach 1.5 degrees of warming, we are entering an era defined not just by extreme weather and policy uncertainty, but also by cascading disruptions, systemic instability, and the potential for tipping points in both the environment and society. That’s why in this episode, we take a hard look at how our understanding of climate risk needs to evolve. We explore: Why traditional climate risk frameworks may be...

How to Make an Impact: Secrets to Climate Startup Success

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Alyssa Gilbert, Director of Innovation at the Grantham Institute of Climate Change and the Environment, as we dive into the climate startup ecosystem. Innovation can provide powerful responses to environmental risks, from AI tools predicting the spread of wildfires in real time, to seaweed-based packaging replacing plastic at mass scale. But in fact, innovation means more than just inventing new technologies – it also means changing the ways we do business today, and helping connect these solutions with the people who can best make use of them. That’s why in today’s episode,...

Nine Limits, Six Breached: The Planetary Boundaries Crisis Explained

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Dr. Levke Caeser of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, as we dive into the planetary boundaries framework and the risks of overstepping the limits of earth systems. Planetary boundaries are the biological and physical limits that define a “safe operating space” for humanity on Earth. But today, many of these limits – including those related to land, freshwater, climate, and biodiversity – have been dangerously exceeded. As a result, we’re now entering uncharted territory. So in today’s episode, we’ll be exploring the consequences of breaching these...

Flawed Models, Fragile Systems: The Risks in Energy & Food Policy

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Prof. Aled Jones, Director of the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University, as we dive into the role of models in shaping policy, and particularly their weaknesses. Models are not neutral – they reflect the assumptions, values, and agendas of those that create and use them. Using the energy system as an example, models can (and have been) used to protect the status quo. In part, this is because many of the models are based on the notions of ‘equilibrium’ and so they simply can’t cope with major structural changes, such as the current energy...

Beyond Climate: A Risk Professionals’ Guide to the Biodiversity COPs

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Eva Zabey, CEO of Business for Nature, as we dive into the complex landscape of environmental diplomacy, and the role of business in halting and reversing biodiversity loss. We know that our economies depend on nature. But with biodiversity loss and climate change both putting pressure on ecosystems, businesses and financial institutions are facing increasing risks. In recognition of this, there is action on the policy front, and with global biodiversity agreements taking shape, the question isn’t whether firms should act – but how they can do so effectively. That’s why in...

The CSRD Effect: How Regulation is Elevating Nature Risk

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Sebastian Leape, CEO of Natcap, as we explore how regulation such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is pushing nature risk to the top of firms’ sustainability agendas. At GARP, we’ve been benchmarking financial firms’ climate and nature risk management capabilities since 2019, and we see that nature is lagging climate risk by several years. But things are changing, and part of that change is driven by new regulations – such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive or CSRD – where firms are being asked to report on a range of...

What We Learned About Climate and Nature Risk in 2024

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Jo Paisley and Maxine Nelson of the GARP Risk Institute as they look back on key learnings from the latest season of the Climate Risk Podcast. As we head into 2025, the GARP Climate Risk Podcast kicks off the new year with a retrospective on the past 12 months, reviewing the key themes and insights that emerged during 2024. From soil scientists to policymakers, financial experts to climate modelers, we’ve welcomed a diverse range of guests to share their expertise. This episode revisits some of the key learnings from these conversations and highlights the invaluable advice...

Modelling Economic Complexity: Insights for Risk Professionals

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Prof. J. Doyne Farmer, Professor of Complex Systems Science at the University of Oxford, as we explore new modelling approaches designed to better capture the complex and chaotic nature of our climate and economy. We spend a lot of time on this podcast covering the transition to a low carbon economy, which will be driven largely by policies and technological innovation. These policies tend to be based on insights from economics. And our view on the pace of innovation is often informed by expert judgement. But traditional economic models often oversimplify the world, leading to poor...

Predicting Our Climate Future: What We Do, Don’t and Can’t Know

Climate Risk Podcast

Hear from Prof. David Stainforth of LSE’s Grantham Research Institute, as we explore the limitations of climate modelling and the implications for risk management. There are some things in life that we can be virtually certain about: if one throws a ball into the air, it will fall back down. Similarly, scientists have evidence beyond reasonable doubt that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased a lot in the recent past. But there are quite a lot of things that we don’t know with any confidence, giving rise to significant uncertainty when we try to forecast those...

More Episodes

Hear from Jo Paisley and Maxine Nelson of the GARP Risk Institute as they look back on key learnings from the latest season of the Climate Risk Podcast.

As we head into 2024, Jo and Maxine look back at the past year of Climate Risk Podcasts, reviewing key learnings from our guests and discussing ongoing trends in climate risk management.

From academics to ambassadors, CEOs to entrepreneurs, we’ve upheld our promise to showcase a variety of different perspectives on climate risk and sustainability. This episode re-examines the rich knowledge that has been shared on the Climate Risk Podcast over the last 12 months, creating a narrative of climate and nature risk wisdom to guide our listeners through this fast-moving field.

So, today’s episode will explore:

What we’ve learnt about the physical risks associated with climate change and nature loss;
The key risks that arise in the transition to a net-zero world; and
How financial firms are managing these risks.

To find out more about the Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR®) Certificate, follow this link: https://www.garp.org/scr

For more information on climate risk, visit GARP’s Global Sustainability and Climate Risk Resource Center: https://www.garp.org/sustainability-climate

Links to featured episodes:

David Schimel and Pooja Khosla - Bridging the Gap between Climate Science and Risk Management

Dr. Erica Thompson - The Power and Pitfalls of Models in Climate Risk Management

Rohan Hamden - Why Extreme Climate Physical Risks Are Closer Than You Might Think

Mike Azlen - The Future of the Carbon Markets Explained for Risk Professionals

Dr. Nicola Ranger - Balancing Mitigation and Adaptation: Insights for the Financial Sector

Simon Zadek - TNFD and Beyond: An Introduction to Nature in Finance

Professor Jo Handelsman - Soil: An Invisible Crisis and Massive Climate Opportunity

Nigel Topping - The COP28 Survival Guide: How it Works and What to Expect

Jane Stevensen - License to Drill: What New Oil & Gas Extraction Means for the Energy Transition

Nicky Dee - From Startup to Sustainability: Innovating For The Climate Emergency

Natalia Dorfman - Powerful Risk Management: Insurance Foundations for High-Integrity Carbon Markets