Material Risk and Opportunity Assessment

The board should ensure that management fully identifies climate-related risks in the short, medium, and long-term, assess their materiality, and takes appropriate action according to the materiality of the risks.

The board should ensure that management assesses the short-, medium- and long-term materiality of climate-related risks and opportunities for the company on an ongoing basis. The board should further ensure that the organisation’s actions and responses to climate are proportionate to the materiality of climate to the company.

Guiding questions

  • Is climate considered in company-wide assessments of material risks and opportunities in the short, medium and long term?
  • Are short-, medium- and long-term time frames considered in materiality assessments at your organisation? Are the definitions of these time frames appropriate for your organisation specifically (depending on the sector, size, investment time frames etc. of your organisation)?
  • Are different climate scenarios being included to inform the assessment of climate change materiality at your organisation?

< Back to WEF Climate governance principles


FEATURED RESOURCE

 

Climate risk governance guide

Climate risk is no longer an issue facing select sectors, but a standing item on many board agendas. To assist directors address climate change governance, the AICD has developed a practical guide in collaboration with Minter Ellison.

Resources

[Source: to see more background on this principle and further guiding question, see the World Economic Forum Guide: How to Set up Effective Climate Governance on Corporate Boards: Guiding principles and questions, pp13-14]

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Lands on which we are located and pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise First Nations peoples' cultural and spiritual relationships to the Skies, Land, Waters, and Seas, and their rich contribution to society.

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