As the Obama administration pushes a new plan to fight climate change, many businesses, from start-ups to multinationals, already are adapting to ensure their businesses can grow and profit amid sustainability challenges.
Companies tackling sustainability, which connects companies with local environments, used to be about philanthropy. But sustainability—and more specifically climate change—is raising real business stakes. Growing weather-related risks are forcing industries to secure supplies in agriculture, water and energy. A report released in May, the National Climate Assessment, was the latest warning about human-triggered weather shifts.
Dealing with climate change is a cost of doing business for more companies. And prescient ventures are turning potential liabilities into foundations for future profit.
One unique example is led by SABMiller, the world's second-largest beer company. Beer can be made with barley. But the grain isn't always available, and sometimes is exported to regional markets. That can mean a really expensive pint of lager in, say, East Africa.
So SABMiller had an idea for Mozambique. The London-based company would manufacture a brew with one of Africa's most widely available crops—the cassava. Also known as yuca, the root resembles a potato. SABMiller would support local, sustainable farming. There was just one problem.
Yuca rots quickly. "In practice, it's a nightmare," said Andres Penate, a spokesman for SABMiller. So the brewer helped create a mobile unit that's used to process the crop on the farm. The first commercial scale, cassava-based beer—called "Impala"—was launched about three years ago. The project today helps cassava farmers earn income, some for the first time.
"Climate change is real and serious," said Oren Ahoobim, associate partner at Dalberg Global Development Advisors, a consultancy. "Even if you don't believe in the science, there's going to be regulation so you have to factor that into the business."