During this session, industry sustainability leaders Keith Robertson from RBC and Alyson Slater from Manulife shared the opportunities and challenges of integrating climate risk and ESG into the larger risk frameworks of their organizations. Kathryn Bakos from the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation discussed her recent collaboration with GRI, which resulted in the creation of industry-specific climate risk matrices (CRMs) aimed at helping financial institutions measure physical climate risks and incorporate them into business and investment decisions.

Slater and Robertson both recognized the importance of CRMs, and stressed the challenge posed by inconsistent regulation across jurisdictions and the difficulty of obtaining accurate, reliable data on physical climate risk. Bakos talked about the urgency of climate adaptation and the fact that every dollar spent on adaptation today could save $3 to $8 over the next ten-year period. All of the speakers welcomed the new ISSB standards and expressed concern that other priorities could negatively impact work on the climate agenda.