Eukas: Development of Company-Referenced Climate Adaptation Strategies

Three stages of a strategy for dealing with climate change:

Within the context of nordwest2050, the subproject Eukas was launched by the consulting firm ecco Unternehmensberatung GmbH, in which strategies for dealing with climate change were developed in twenty companies in the Bremen-Oldenburg Metropolitan Region. In order to ascertain the degree to which companies have been affected by climate change, and what need for action exists as a result, a “quick check” was carried out, for the purpose of raising the awareness of the companies for climate change. Companies from the food, ports and logistics and energy industries were more strongly affected. Figure 2 shows the logos of the companies involved.

The process of strategy formation was carried out in each company in a dialogue together with the so-called climate team, consisting of between one and seven employees – depending on the size of the operation – from various parts of the company. This strategic process is broken down into three stages:

1. The identification phase: what vulnerabilities exist in the company with regard to the effects of climate change?
2. Climate adaptation strategies: what possibilities are there for companies to adapt to changed climatic conditions?
3. Rooting: how are the climate adaptation strategies which have been developed to be established within the company?

Five or six workshops were held in each the twenty companies, and came up with four requirements for action: in addition to secure logistics in the areas of procurement and sales, these included most prominently employee health, both in terms of new work-time models and in terms of preventive on-the-job safety. The development of strategic alliances for the sustainable securing of resources, as well as new procurement markets, and the development of new or changed business concepts were another major focus. Various instruments were developed by the consulting company in order to process the particular phases.

For more information or for general consultation on climate adaptation strategies, please contact staggeecco.de.