Corporations need to focus on climate change adaptation, quantifying supply chain risks

Corporations need to mitigate their sustainability risks to their supply chains and businesses and focus on adaptation, according to Dr. Parag Khanna, Climate Alpha Founder and CEO and Founder and Managing Partner of Future Map.

Khanna, speaking at Celosphere 2022, with three other sustainability subject matter experts outlined how businesses can navigate climate change. Broadly speaking, corporations need to stress-test portfolios and quantify risks to portfolios, blend internal and vendor data for forecasting, revalue assets such as real estate and infrastructure and adapt modeling.

"The pace of climate change is so off the charts that it's unhedgeable," said Khanna. "We haven't calculated assets and their risk adjusted value."

• What is sustainability in business? The process, returns, KPIs and everything you need to know

Khanna added that most of the focus has been on mitigation, but adaptation should get more focus.

"Sustainability touches every part of your business," said Janina Bauer, Celonis' Global Director of Sustainability.

The panel was timely given multiple enterprises at Celosphere 2022 have said they will scale sustainability investments and see supply chain benefits ahead.

Celonis launched two new applications developed in collaboration with Climatiq, EcoVadis and IntegrityNext. The two apps are:

• Celonis Shipping Emissions Reduction App. The Celonis app was developed with Climatiq, an embedded carbon intelligence platform. Celonis customers BSH Home Appliances, Delphi and LEGO Group also offered feedback on the app. The app integrates Climatiq Carbon Calculation Engine with Celonis Execution Management System (EMS) to automate carbon emissions reporting and pinpoint actions to cut them.

• Celonis Sustainable Spend Management App. The Celonis app was created with EcoVadis and IntegrityNext. The app is in beta with a version for each EcoVadis and IntegrityNext.

The experts on the panel at Celosphere 2022 said sustainability is critical to future-proofing businesses. In addition, much of the sustainability efforts will intersect with supply chains. "The organizing principle of the world is the supply chain, said Khanna. "The supply chain is the most complicated system our species has built."

Other takeaways from the panel:

• Henning von Einsiedel, COO Holy Fashion Group, said the company is focused on creating a sustainable business and digital transformation. The two are intertwined, he said.

• Chris Martin, Head of Process Analytics at Borg Warner's Delphi Technologies unit, said the company is working to make sustainable products to supply the auto industry. Delphi is also moving toward carbon neutral, but Scope 3 emissions in the aftermarket are hard to track in a complicated supply chain.

Larry Dignan

Editor in Chief (former)

Larry Dignan is the former Editor in Chief of Celonis Media. Before joining Celonis, he was Editor in Chief of ZDNet and has covered the technology industry and transformation trends for more than two decades, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine.