Hurricane Season Wrap-Up—Unpacking the Themes and Lessons From the Series

This issue concludes our first series of articles for The Situation Room.

As the series progressed, we witnessed the earliest category 5 hurricane on record (Beryl), the fastest-intensifying category 5 hurricane (Milton), and numerous extreme heat records broken.

Even with the hurricane season not yet over, this ranked 2024 in second place for billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events. Hurricane Helene alone caused around $200 billion in damages, making it one of the most costly storms in US history.

24 in '24: This year marked the second-highest frequency of billion-dollar weather events in US history, with 24 events causing over $1B each in damages.

Throughout the series, we looked at how real-life extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and heatwaves, are forcing previously compartmentalised roles in environmental, safety and chemical management to come together in a more integrated manner. To discuss what we’ve learned over the series, Thomas Goodmanson (EcoOnline CEO) reviewed these findings with David Picton (SVP of Sustainability & ESG) and Richard Tipper MBE, FRSA (Chief Scientific Officer).

A Year of Billion-Dollar Disasters

Over the past year, the United States has seen extreme weather events—including hurricanes, wildfires, winter storms and more—that have led to losses in the billion-dollar range. An overview of what happened and where can be found on the following map.

Looking Back: Lessons in Resilience and Adaptation

From chemical sites facing hurricanes to worker safety in extreme conditions and the impact of heatwaves on education, these stories highlight the need for preparedness and planning to build resilience against climate-driven hazards—as well as proactive adaptation measures aimed at mitigating climate change.

To enhance resilience planning, it’s essential to incorporate environmental, worker, community and chemical safety considerations into decision-making processes. Additionally, fostering strong cross-functional collaboration and communication, both internally and externally, is crucial. In essence, balanced ESG strategies and practical initiatives are the foundations upon which resilience must be built.

3 Key Takeaways on the Lessons Learned

• Extreme weather events are no longer rare. Businesses must now prioritise climate risks as core operational challenges.
• These events are not reliably predictable. Although early forecasts predicted an active hurricane season, actual patterns were mixed and complex, including rapid hurricane intensification and significant unpredictability. This emphasises the need for robust planning, mitigation and dynamic review of risk exposure.
• Integrating EHS, ESG and Chemical Safety is vital. Integrating these data streams enables proactive responses and actionable insights, particularly for lone workers.

The Role of Leadership in Driving Change

In today’s changing landscape, businesses aiming to build a long-term strategy must effectively manage externalities and anticipate risks and opportunities. By understanding how their operations affect their workforce, communities and the environment—as well as how external developments influence their operations—companies can proactively convert potential risks into opportunities.

Indeed, nearly all companies now recognise the impact of sustainability on their long-term corporate strategies, with 85% reporting that they see sustainability as a value-creation opportunity.

Risks associated with externalities:

• Regulatory?
• Operational/physical?
• Legal (including lawsuits)
• Financial and market
• Reputational
• Supply chain

Organisations need a robust governance structure to navigate these complex challenges and transform safety and sustainability into drivers of growth and innovation by fostering new skills and cross-departmental coordination. In fact, recent trends show that the sustainability function is growing within legal, compliance, finance, investor relations and operations departments. Sustainability executives are rising in seniority, and 89% of organisations have senior leadership roles focused on sustainability strategy.

By prioritising these insights and skills with strong board and leadership oversight, businesses can mitigate risks and capitalise on opportunities for a sustainable future.

3 Key Takeaways on the Role of Leadership

• ESG integration at the C-level aligns with sustainability investors. EcoOnline’s partner, Apax, showcases private equity leadership in ESG by prioritising sustainability roles and advancing ESG across portfolio companies.
• Governance is still a hard sell. North American leaders increasingly adopt environmental goals like net-zero emissions, but social and governance mandates—such as diversity quotas—encounter more resistance.
• Corporations play a vital role in their communities. Their responsibilities extend beyond environmental impacts to include inclusive workplaces and behaviours that reflect community values.

Driving Sustainability and Innovation in a Maturing Regulatory Landscape

As we’ve seen with environmental health and safety practices, regulations set a baseline for operational requirements. A similar trend is forming in the sustainability field, where regulations have grown by around 155% over the past decade. While some companies aim to be early movers in sustainability, implementing systems ahead of regulations, others may adopt a more cautious approach—they may wait to comply at minimum cost while learning from early adopters. For companies subject to EHS regulations, implementing measures can even be a competitive advantage in a global market.

Regulations can also drive innovation. For instance, by putting a price on carbon emissions, cap-and-trade systems incentivise companies to innovate to reduce costs. When emissions are reduced below a certain threshold, unused emission rights may be sold on the carbon market, turning a liability into an opportunity.

Other regulations—such as the recent EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), SEC regulations and California’s climate laws—focus on transparency rather than performance. They incentivise companies to demonstrate improvement and act on environmental impacts. Companies are motivated to enhance sustainability efforts and respond to stakeholder expectations by making their practices visible. Indeed, an overwhelming majority (66% of enterprise and 89% of mid-market organisations) believe that frameworks like the CSRD will drive meaningful sustainability integration within their operations over the next three to five?years.

3 Key Takeaways on ESG Maturity & Regulations

• ESG is increasingly recognised as a business priority. Three in four executives see a direct connection between strong ESG programs and improved results—with measurable financial returns.
• Companies can elevate ESG by adopting EHS strategies. By incorporating KPIs, audits and staff engagement, businesses can embed ESG as a core organisational value.
• Resilience has become central to ESG’s value. Companies and investors are starting to see ESG as vital to long-term stability. The focus is now on anticipating, preparing for and adapting to environmental and economic disruptions as a marker of sustainable businesses.

Come Back Soon for More Situations

We’ve only begun to scratch the surface with this first series of The Situation Room, so join us for future instalments as we explore the impacts of climate change on areas of safety, chemical management and the wider risks faced by organisations. We will delve deeper into how extreme weather and a changing climate affect businesses, communities and the planet. And we’ll explore innovative solutions, emerging technologies and best practices to build a more resilient and sustainable future.

News Stories We’re Following

COP16: What happened at the 2024 UN Biodiversity Conference? — The Nature Conservancy

COP29: US climate envoy says work will continue despite Trump’s return — Reuters

Risk management and corporate ESG performance: The mediating effect of financial performance — ScienceDirect

The chemical enterprise braces for a second Trump presidency — C&EN

*Notes and Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) U.S. 2024 Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2024). https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/, DOI: 10.25921/stkw-7w73. Full map here: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/monitoring-content/billions/images/2024-billion-dollar-disaster-map.png