No Resiliency Strategy? You’re Taking a Big Risk, Report Warns Utilities

Utilities without resilience strategies are taking a risk that jeopardizes their companies and customers, says a new report from Accenture. The report, “From Reliability to Resilience: Confronting the Challenges of Extreme Weather,” finds that most electric utility grid executives agree that extreme weather due to climate change poses challenges to their operations and profitability. Accenture collected data for the report from more than 200 utility executives from around the world as part of its 2020 global Digitally Enabled Grid research survey. The company conducted the survey between November 2019 and January 2020. “Utilities cannot afford to wait — 92% of survey respondents thought that growing extreme weather events increase the financial risk level of network businesses, and 90% said they will increase the potential risk to the ongoing financial viability of the network business,” said the report…

Why Resilience Must Drive Covid-19 Recovery According To Risk Experts

Leaders across business and government are reevaluating the status quo and evaluating lessons learned as we emerge from the initial Covid-19 lockdown phase. They will make strategic decisions that will have long-term impacts and outlive the pandemic. What have we learned and what should they consider when reevaluating preparedness overall and supply chain decisions in particular? I recently spoke with Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and FM Global Executive Vice President and CFO Kevin Ingram, to gain their perspectives on a post Covid-19 world.

“We are living in a multi-hazard world where risk is systemic and disaster impacts are cascading, often in unpredictable ways,” says Mizutori. “Disaster preparedness, action on climate and cyber risk, and pandemic preparedness, all require good governance and political will and commitment to invest in making the world a safer place. If the benefits of investing in disaster prevention were truly realized, we would not be facing the enormous costs now.”

Leaders must employ a multi-hazard strategy when planning for the future. That strategic planning process needs to include risk management as well as address risk holistically…