____________________________________________________________________________________ Main Interview- Sweep
productivity and working conditions, and in some cases forces companies to shut down parts of their operations entirely. Transportation is also affected, as energy prices become increasingly tied to carbon border pricing, with regulations changing at varying speeds across different regions. Companies that do not understand or acknowledge that shift face a much steeper carbon cost at the border that will directly affect margins, the bottom line and how a business is able to supply itself. Passively waiting for calmer conditions, without preparing and building resilience in the meantime, simply is not a viable strategy.“ Climate events have accelerated significantly in recent years, with more frequent heatwaves and floods,” Rachel points out.“ As a result, retailers have quickly come to realize that climate change is not a long-term problem anymore; it is a mid-term or even short-term challenge they have to address right now. Without the technology and data to support that decision-making process, businesses are left working with information that is unclear at best. It is simply not viable to operate blind when it comes to non-financial data, in the same way you would never operate blind with financial data.”
Connecting the dots
There are several ways retailers can mitigate financial losses across their supply chains caused by extreme weather, as Rachel explains.“ First, they need accurate data on a frequent basis, so they can organize and articulate a decisionmaking process quickly, which is exactly where Sweep can help. At a broader level, retailers need to understand their full supplier chain, from tier one right through to tier four. The sooner a business can see where disruption might occur, the sooner
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