Companies in emerging economies already impacted by climate change, survey shows

Almost 80% of business and financial leaders in Africa and south and south-east Asia say climate change is ‘impacting business today’

Companies in emerging economies are already feeling the impacts of climate change, show the results of an annual survey of senior executives by British International Investment, a government-backed development finance institution.

Seventy-nine per cent of the more than 100 fund managers, leaders in the financial services sector and corporate chief executives in Africa and south and south-east Asia who responded to the survey said that climate change was already “impacting business today”, an increase from 68 per cent in 2022.

Fifty-nine per cent of respondents said they had experienced an extreme weather event, which had impacted their organisation over the past five years. This figure jumped to 72 per cent when only considering responses from corporate leaders and excluding those from executives working in financial services and fund management.

While 65 per cent of respondents said they had adapted their business strategy in response to climate change, only 47 per cent said they had adapted their financial planning, a decrease from BII’s 2022 report, when these figures stood at 69 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively.

However, the number of businesses “planning to” adapt their strategy in the future had increased from 2 per cent in 2022 to 17 per cent in 2023, as had the number of respondents calculating their carbon footprint — up to 45 per cent in 2023 compared with 22 per cent in 2022 — though of these respondents only 23 per cent had set greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, the study showed. 

The survey results, along with interviews conducted by BII, demonstrate the need for “training” to help build corporate climate action in emerging economies, the report said. 

Training should focus on increasing “understanding of Scope 1, 2 and 3 [emissions]” and how to integrate them into company systems, including “bespoke technical assistance” such as demonstrations on the use of carbon accounting tools, BII head of climate, diversity and advisory Amal-Lee Amin told Sustainable Views.

The report is available to read here.