Business Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation

This is an online tool launching shortly. Please look out for further updates. 

Interruptions to your business are inevitable, how you manage and respond to them can influence the longevity and profitability of your business. Whether it’s computer failure, key staff illness, supplier problems or a power cut, it may well be difficult to carry on ‘business as usual’. This is particularly significant if you are a small business with minimal resources. With some foresight and planning you may be able to prevent the crisis happening in the first place, or at the very least, minimize the potential impacts.

Making it your business

Taking action to increase your resilience is critical for the long-term sustainability of your business. Incorporating business resilience, resistance and continuity plans will ensure your business can react positively to a business interruption and will be in a far better position to prevent, survive, prosper and gain an advantage over your less prepared competitors.

Run by Business in the Community, and funded through regional development agency, ONE North East, a new Business Resilience Health service has been launched online, aimed at encouraging businesses to take action to reduce their vulnerability to the effects of severe weather and ensure they can remain in business following a severe weather event.

Business in the Community has also worked with Defra's business engagement project to determine the most successful methods of climate change engagement.

Defra's business engagement project is working to determine the most successful methods of engagement, in particular working through regional bodies – RDAs, Regional Climate Change Partnerships and GOs – to run a number of pilot studies in which companies of different sizes, from different sectors and different regions investigate the risks and opportunities to their business. The aim is for Defra to provide the seed corn resource to lever in greater knowledge and skills that regional bodies can offer.

Business in the Community has worked with Defra on two of these projects. The research publications can be downloaded from the links below:

Mitigation, adaptation and resilience - linking business messages on climate change

A Practical Guide for Small Businesses in the West Midlands - Weathering the Storm – Saving and Making Money in a Changing Climate

More information about the Defra research and other the other publications can be found on the Defra website.

Please note this programme has now ended in the North East