Almost two thirds of UK CEOs now believe that climate change is a threat to their business, but over half agree that action will lead to new opportunities, according to an annual survey by PwC.
Climate change threats to business polled higher than concerns over populism, terrorism, protectionism and access to capital, marking a huge increase over previous years. A quarter of UK CEOs said they were now extremely concerned about climate change - three times as many as polling from 2016.
The findings were published in PwC’s annual global CEO survey, which interviewed CEOs in 83 countries between September and October 2019.
Kevin Ellis, chairman and senior partner of PwC, said: “The impact of climate change has soared up the CEO agenda. CEOs see the impact across all aspects of business, from assets and investments to products and jobs. They are facing pressure from their consumers to play their part. This means boards need to assess their strategies, risks, and business models. Achieving [the UK’s target of reaching] net zero by 2050 will demand innovation and transformation at an unprecedented scale and speed and will require business to take positive action.”
Seeing the benefits
Over half (51 per cent) of UK CEOs believed that climate change initiatives would lead to significant new product and service opportunities, with almost three quarters (74 per cent) saying that action on climate change would provide a reputational advantage for their organisation.
Looking at the wider global survey, business leaders in Sri Lanka (86 per cent) and New Zealand (83 per cent) were found to be the most concerned about climate change, with leaders in the Middle East (38 per cent) and China (45 per cent) the least concerned.
