Why Climate Adaptation Is Becoming a Strategic Priority for Risk Managers in 2025

Marsh’s 2025 Climate Adaptation Survey offers a detailed view into how businesses worldwide are managing rising climate-related risks. As extreme weather events, regulatory pressures, and insured catastrophe losses continue to climb, organizations are under growing pressure to strengthen their resilience strategies. Encouragingly, 78% of respondents say they’re assessing future climate impacts—but fewer than half are using cost-benefit analysis to guide their investment decisions.

Risk managers are increasingly implementing measures such as business continuity management and engineering solutions to protect operations and infrastructure. However, most adaptation efforts remain focused at the asset or operational level, with system-wide risks like supply chain dependencies and infrastructure vulnerabilities often overlooked. A significant number of organizations still approach climate adaptation from a sustainability standpoint, rather than integrating it into enterprise risk management frameworks.

The survey highlights regional variability in climate impacts, with respondents from Asia, Canada, and Africa experiencing the most disruption over the past three years. Despite this, adaptation funding remains uneven. While 60% of respondents believe their funding is adequate, competing business priorities and lack of actionable data continue to hamper more comprehensive adaptation efforts. Furthermore, 40% of organizations still do not conduct climate risk assessments at a quantitative level, signaling a gap in preparedness.

Interestingly, access to insurance is not a primary motivator for most organizations. Instead, pressure from customers, regulators, and investors—along with an internal need to manage risk—are the main drivers of adaptation initiatives. With natural catastrophe losses set to exceed $100 billion for a sixth consecutive year, the urgency to embed climate resilience into strategic planning is only expected to grow. The survey underscores the need for data-driven, system-level approaches to help organizations turn climate risks into opportunities for long-term resilience.