Geneva, Switzerland - The World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has published a highly informative Issues Brief entitled: "Adaptation: An Issue Brief for Business" that discusses climate change adaptation issues from a business perspective.

The report examines the potential impacts of climate changes on business; risks and opportunities; the business case for adaptation planning; and areas in which business could play an important role in promoting adaptation, both at the community and global levels.

As noted in the Brief, changes in the Earth’s climate system are already creating issues for how businesses operate. While the magnitude and frequency of climate impacts is uncertain, the consequences of some climate change impacts are now unavoidable.

These include, water scarcity, disruption of international markets, increased frequency of extreme weather events, and potential mass migration of people.

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), adapting to climate change will require the right measures to reduce the negative impacts of climate change (or exploit the positive ones) by making the appropriate adjustments and changes.

Key highlights of the Issue Brief:

• Coordination of mitigation and adaptation policies is necessary and will lead to global benefits.
  
  
• Climate change impacts will create business risks and opportunities within a company’s operations and supply chains, a company’s local community, and in the global consumer market in both developed and developing countries.
  
  
• The risks to consumer markets are greatest in developing countries because they lack sufficient adaptive capacity to climate change impacts.
  
  
• Key drivers of adaptation planning include: competitive advantage, cost savings, liability management, investor pressure, regulation and community resilience.

The Issues Brief is short - only 28 pages, and is easy to read. It can be downloaded from here.