The retail business knows how to calculate. Now it’s time to factor in the climate
Plan with foresight – and stay ahead of the game in a changing market by making climate risks part of your strategy.
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Climate change is no longer a distant concern – it’s a reality that already directly impacts retail. Within 20 years (2000 to 2019) the number of climate-related disasters worldwide increased by 83%.1
According to Deloitte’s ”Global Retail Outlook 2024“, 68% of the world’s top 200 retailers expect climate change to significantly increase their operating costs over the next five years.2
Extreme weather events such as storms, floods, heatwaves and wildfires threaten shops, warehouses and logistics hubs – in other words the entire value chain. Supply bottlenecks, damaged infrastructure, disrupted transport routes and revenue losses are becoming more frequent. At the same time, securing adequate risk coverage for affected locations is becoming increasingly difficult.
Retailers are under pressure to protect their assets, maintain business continuity and meet ESG requirements – and it’s all happening in a fast-paced, globalised environment.
Location Risk Intelligence provides a reliable data foundation to help you analyse climate risks, realistically assess their impact and make economically sound, future-oriented decisions.
Sources: ¹ UNDRR – United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Human Cost of Disasters 2000–2019 | ² Deloitte Global Retail Outlook 2024
Climate change – how to respond? Simply turn the five biggest retail challenges into your strongest resilience factors
Climate change presents retailers with unique challenges. Shops, warehouses and supply chains are increasingly exposed to extreme weather. Investment decisions require long-term data, ESG regulations are getting stricter, and climate impacts are affecting product availability.
Location Risk Intelligence helps you not only to manage these risks based on robust data, but to turn them into competitive advantages.
Buildings, storage facilities and logistics hubs are key assets in retail – and increasingly at risk from extreme weather such as heavy rainfall, heatwaves and storms. Without accurate risk assessments, retailers face the danger of multi-million-euro losses – and threats to their supply reliability and reputation. Those who understand how climate risk exposure could affect their facilities can take proactive measures – from structural protection to insurance cover.
How to reliably safeguard your infrastructure:
- For risk managers: Identify vulnerable locations across your entire portfolio in terms of over 80 climate hazards – with detailed risk assessments classified by risk and region.
- For facility managers: Evaluate the exposure of specific locations with the greatest possible accuracy in order to develop an appropriate mitigation strategy.
- For investment decision-makers: Calculate potential losses with the aid of Climate Financial Impact Edition – and allocate budgets more effectively.
Choosing a location represents a long-term investment – and underestimating climate risk exposure can have serious consequences. Whether it’s new shops, warehouses or hubs: reliable climate risk assessments are a prerequisite for robust business cases. Projections through to the year 2100 enable planning that accounts for both current and future developments.
How to make future-proof locational decisions:
- For expansion teams: Compare location profiles using climate risk scenarios extending to the year 2100.
- For project developers: Use scenario analyses based on IPCC models for climate-resilient planning.
- For financial managers: Simulate the Climate Expected Loss per location to support sound investment decisions.
Product availability and delivery reliability depend on smoothly functioning supply chains. Increasingly severe weather events can turn transport routes, distribution hubs and production sites into risk hotspots. Detailed risk assessments along the supply chain enable you to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities by using alternative suppliers, stockpiling or rerouting.
How to climate-proof your supply chain:
- For supply chain managers: Assess weather risks along global supply networks using granular geo-data.
- For risk teams: Identify high-risk transport corridors, warehouse sites or ports with forecasts through to the year 2100.
- For procurement teams: Integrate climate risk data directly into supplier assessments and sourcing decisions.
From CSRD to ISSB – regulatory requirements for climate reporting are growing. Investors and the public are increasingly demanding transparency in terms of physical climate risks. Those who can assess and document their exposure reliably and in compliance with the regulations can safeguard not only their own reputation, but also their access to capital and partnerships. Standardised data and automated reports ensure both efficiency and credibility.
How to fulfil ESG requirements efficiently and with solid data:
- For ESG officers: Generate comprehensive climate risk reports (CSRD, TCFD, ISSB, etc.) with trustworthy climate risk data that meets auditor requirements.
- For reporting teams: Export all relevant metrics in standard formats (PDF, CSV, Excel) for further processing.
- For management & IR: Communicate your risk management strategy credibly with scientifically robust data.
Heatwaves, humidity and storms are increasingly impacting storage conditions, product quality and shelf life. Especially in fresh-food logistics or with temperature-sensitive goods, losses can quickly add up. With precise climate data and location-specific analysis you can take early action – investing for example in refrigeration, structural upgrades or alternative logistics routes.
How to protect your goods from climate impacts:
- For operations managers: Detect temperature, humidity or storm risks per location and define mitigation strategies.
- For quality managers: Use geo-specific data to identify vulnerable nodes in your distribution network.
- For logistics leads: Use reliable climate insights to plan refrigeration facilities, transshipment locations and delivery pathways.
Your advantages with Location Risk Intelligence
Protect your long-term investments
Assess climate risks for your locations using over 80 indicators – and make well-informed decisions in relation to your shops, warehouses and logistics centres.
Reduce weather-related breakdowns and losses
Identify weak points based on scientifically validated risk scores and protect critical infrastructure and inventory along the entire value chain.
Secure your supply chains globally
Leverage globally available location-related data and projections through to the year 2100 in order to detect and mitigate climate-driven supply chain disruptions.
Comply with ESG regulations efficiently and reliably
Generate compliant reports for CSRD, TCFD, ISSB & the EU Taxonomy in just a few clicks – with standardised templates and automated data workflows.
Make future-proof decisions based on data
Rely on scientifically based projections based on recognised IPCC scenarios and simulate climate risks up to the year 2100 – both locally and globally.
Target your investments where they will achieve the greatest impact
Calculate the "Climate Expected Loss" for individual locations or entire portfolios, and focus your measures where they will have the greatest financial effect.
When your business depends on reliable supply chains and constant availability – resilience is essential. Talk to our experts today.
The strength of Munich Re’s solution for locational intelligence was a key reason for its top 3 placing in our inaugural ClimateRisk50 ranking. Also important was its ability to provide applications and solutions to suit a variety of industry sectors, including insurance, banking, real estate and manufacturing.
How Location Risk Intelligence with its editions supports your daily retail operations
With its various editions this modular SaaS solution helps you to incorporate climate-related impacts into your strategic decisions, and to ensure that natural disasters, climate change and their consequences are adequately taken into account.
By entering individual locations or uploading entire portfolios into Location Risk Intelligence, you can easily analyse, visualise, compare and document natural hazards and climate risks, and then create meaningful reports. Location Risk Intelligence not only enables you to identify current and future climate risks, but also to assess the financial impact of climate change. This enables you to take strategic action to ensure the long-term security of your company.
Climate Change Edition
This edition helps you not only to assess the current physical risk situation of your facilities – such as shops, warehouses or distribution centres – but also to evaluate future climate risks under different scenarios through to the year 2100.
From heavy rain to heatwaves and storms: Climate Change Edition reveals how acute and chronic risks will evolve locally, so you can make sound decisions relating to expansions, relocations or investments.
Ideal for long-term locational planning and supply chain risk management. Based on over 250 climate scores across 13 climate hazard categories, this edition incorporates not only historical events but also projected changes in frequency and intensity – using IPCC-approved scenarios.
Climate Financial Impact Edition
This edition is your go-to solution for reliably quantifying the financial impact of physical climate risks on your facilities, infrastructure or supply chain – forming the basis for investments, risk strategies and business continuity planning.
It helps you identify potential losses early and plan investments precisely.
Built on one of the world’s most comprehensive natural hazard databases and validated modelling under multiple climate scenarios, this edition delivers concrete exposure data and expected financial losses ("Climate Expected Loss") – globally and locally, per individual location or entire portfolio.
Reporting Edition
This edition offers an out-of-the-box solution to meet increasing climate reporting demands in retail. Whether CSRD, the EU Taxonomy, TCFD or ISSB – Reporting Edition enables you to generate complete, compliant climate risk reports with minimal effort.
Use standardised reports that integrate seamlessly into your ESG strategy – for investors, regulators or internal transparency. Automated processes save time and improve report quality and reliability.
Act now – and make your retail business climate-proof
Climate risks are now among the most critical business risks in retail. Those who understand and manage them proactively can strengthen their market position, avoid losses and grow sustainably. With Location Risk Intelligence from Munich Re, you can detect risks early, make sound decisions and fulfil regulatory requirements – all on a platform you can trust. Extreme weather events are becoming more likely – make sure your protective measures keep up with them.