Univ. of Arizona – Senior Vice President for Research

Arizona has experienced significant environmental, economic, and demographic changes over the last 50 years. General trends in climate, along with seasonal decadal variability (e.g., drought, flooding), impose cascading and interrelated impacts across multiple sectors (e.g., business, transportation, energy, infrastructure, etc.). Businesses are already experts at managing risk, but they face new challenges in anticipating these cascading effects linked to future climate-related impacts and associated changes in water availability, more severe/longer heat waves, and higher drought and flood risks.

The Arizona Business Resilience Initiative is developing a methodology for assessing business opportunities and managing risks to operations associated with climate change and climate variability. This research answers two questions:

1. Based on current state-of-knowledge in climate change impacts and vulnerability assessment, what are the most probable impacts on the company’s operations and projections due to climate change, and
2. What are actions that can be taken to anticipate or mitigate these risks, or to position the company to take advantage of new opportunities that anticipate and adapt to climate change?