The JUST Report: Climate Risks Create Big Opportunities for Corporate Leadership
Extreme temperatures are shattering weather records around the world. Almost 100 million Americans were reportedly under some level of excessive heat warning this week. Extreme weather conditions are being documented across much of the world. Sea surface temperatures in the tropical North Atlantic are at record high levels, fueling the intensification of tropical cyclones and what is expected to be a “above-normal” Hurricane season. Heat-related deaths, sadly, are an all-too-frequent news headline.
Then there’s the economic impact. According to researchers, “under current climate conditions, lost labor productivity due to heat in the U.S. could reach $100 billion a year [and] that loss could reach $200 billion by 2030 and $500 billion by 2050.”
What this also points to is the growing opportunity for market-based solutions to help the world adapt to a more volatile climate. This spans everything from helping businesses deal with the effect of extreme heat on workers – something Bloomberg highlighted this week – to building resilience into supply chains, logistics, food and agriculture production, and physical infrastructure (buildings, roads, electric grids); to risk management and insurance solutions that protect against climate-related financial loss.
It’s an area where AI can play a strong supporting role, too. JUST 100 company IBM’s “Environmental Intelligence Suite,” which leverages AI to help clients improve risk management and decision-making on climate risk, is one example. PG&E’s use of AI to enhance fire and outage risks is another. Beyond AI, construction companies are working to find workforce solutions to enhance safety and productivity, and energy companies, like those in Michigan, are preparing to keep the power grid running. HP and Intel’s leadership on water management in the semiconductor industry and broader technology sector y also springs to mind.
Helping the world address climate risk and extreme weather is becoming an increasingly important facet of just business leadership and overall stakeholder performance.
Be well,
Martin
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Quote of the Week
“You spend a lot of time at work. Just like we would for a consumer on our app, we asked: What’s easy? What’s hard to do? How do you access certain things quickly and seamlessly? We had a lot of work to do, end-to-end, on the experience. Just like we would on a customer journey, we looked at our colleague journeys as well.”
- Amex’s Chief Colleague Experience Officer Monique Herena, on why the company’s HR team rebranded to focus on employee experience.
JUST AI
The Biden Administration unveils new rules to curb U.S. investment into Chinese AI and semiconductor technology that could also enhance their military. The New York Times has the story.
The Washington Post looks at the race for tech firms to devise new, potentially improbable energy solutions as AI development eats away at an aging power grid.
PwC reveals a fascinating bit of research on how AI is impacting work. A study of half a billion job ads from 15 countries suggests that AI is making workers much more productive, with sectors that are especially exposed to AI experiencing nearly 5 times higher growth in labor productivity.
Must Reads
Post Father’s Day, Nike increases its paid parental leave to 16 weeks for all U.S. employees, which can be used for birth, adoption, or foster placement.
The New York Times takes a deep look at how Meta continues to fail at protecting the safety of its most vulnerable users–children.
The Atlantic casts a critical eye on federal workforce-training programs, revealing how they accomplished little for the workers NAFTA displaced in the 1990s, largely because they targeted “in-demand” jobs that employers needed to fill, which often meant low-wage, high turnover positions.
The attacks on DEI continue. This week, Fortune covers the move from several high-profile tech CEOs, including Elon Musk, to move to MEI (Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence).
Chart of the Week
This chart comes from excellent research by Politico’s Morning Consult on Voter Sentiment on Caregiving in the U.S. The chart shows that only 36% of companies offer paid family caregiving leave, despite the fact that 59% of respondents would be more likely to stay at a job that has it. Explore the details here.
