Event Summary
April 23, 2026
As climate-related disasters become more frequent, severe, and costly, climate risk is no longer a future issue sitting at the edge of decision-making. It is already reshaping how investors, companies, governments, and infrastructure owners think about resilience, value protection, and long-term planning. That was the central message of CAFIID’s recent webinar on climate disaster risk assessment and resilience. Bringing together complementary perspectives, Sahar Safaie, Director of Disaster and Climate Resilience Solutions at Arcadis Canada, and Neil Yeoh, Founder and CEO of OnePointFive, explored how climate disaster risk can be better understood, measured, and acted on in practice.
Together, their insights pointed to a clear conclusion: better risk information matters, but what matters even more is embedding that information into real decisions. Explore their key insights and the session recording below.
10 Speaker Insights on Climate Disaster Risk
1. Climate risk is a present-day financial issue
Climate-related disasters are increasing in frequency and severity, with rising insured and uninsured losses in Canada. These losses are being driven by both:
Climate change (e.g., extreme weather, flooding, wildfire)
Human factors (e.g., population growth and increased exposure of assets)
A major gap also exists between true total losses and insured losses, with governments often absorbing significant residual costs through response, recovery, and public expenditures.
2. Risk is a function of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability
A core framework presented was:
Hazard: The event itself (e.g., flood, wildfire, earthquake)
Exposure: Assets and people located in harm’s way
Vulnerability: How susceptible those assets are to damage or disruption
Key points grounding a more practical understanding of what climate risk actually means:
Risk only becomes meaningful when hazard intersects with exposed and vulnerable systems
Similar assets can perform very differently under the same event depending on design, location, surrounding conditions, and preparedness
Understanding risk requires looking beyond the event itself to the characteristics of the systems affected
3. Impacts go beyond physical damage
Climate risk should be understood not only as damage to infrastructure, but also as disruption across the systems that keep communities and economies functioning, from transportation, utilities, and water to supply chains, public health, social systems, governance, and economic performance, among others.
Key considerations:
Service disruption, not just asset damage, is often the primary impact of concern
Indirect and systemic effects can significantly exceed direct losses
In many cases, the real issue is whether critical systems continue to function, not simply whether an asset survives intact
4. Risk assessment methods vary in depth and purpose
There are three broad approaches for risk assessment:
Qualitative: Fast screening (e.g., high/medium/low risk matrices)
Semi-quantitative: Comparative prioritization across assets and hazards
Fully quantitative/probabilistic: Detailed financial modelling of expected losses and risk exposure
However, no single method is sufficient for every use case; choice depends on purpose (screening vs investment analysis vs engineering design).
6. Climate risk is not fully priced into financial markets
Asset prices generally do not reflect climate-related risks adequately.
Barriers include:
Data gaps and inconsistent measurement approaches
Short-term financial decision horizons vs long-term climate impacts
Uncertainty about who bears the cost (public sector vs private sector)
Structural limitations in forecasting and discounting future impacts
7. Standardization is emerging, but still evolving
The adoption of IFRS / ISSB climate disclosure standards is growing, and there is greater alignment across frameworks such as TCFD, CDP, SASB, and GRI.
However, while efforts are underway to create a common language for climate risk disclosure, fragmentation still limits comparability and decision-usefulness in practice.
8. Climate risk is systemic and interconnected
Climate risk is systemic and interconnected. As environmental degradation and climate impacts can reinforce each other, human infrastructure decisions can increase vulnerability.
This emphasises:
Integrated thinking across systems
Looking at risk through environmental, infrastructure, financial, and governance lenses at the same time
Recognizing that seemingly local risks can have wider operational and economic consequences
9. Climate risk management must move from assessment to integration
Climate risk should not remain a standalone assessment exercise. It needs to be built into the systems that shape real-world decisions, from engineering design and infrastructure planning to asset management, emergency preparedness, and investment processes.
This shift has important governance and financing implications. Governments are being pushed to embed climate risk directly into operational systems and planning frameworks, while financial mechanisms such as blended finance, climate-linked development funding, and climate-integrated aid and investment strategies are beginning to evolve in parallel.
10. Climate resilience as an investment opportunity
Climate resilience can help protect long-term asset value and returns, reduce future avoided costs, and support better long-term planning. The speakers also highlighted growing opportunity in areas such as:
Resilient infrastructure
Nature-based solutions
Water management systems
Climate analytics and data tools
Viewed this way, resilience is not only about reducing downside risk. It is also about directing capital toward solutions that strengthen long-term adaptation, continuity, and system performance.
Closing synthesis
The session reinforced that climate disaster risk is no longer a future-oriented issue, but a present-day financial, operational, and governance challenge. While tools and frameworks for assessment are improving, the critical gap remains in implementation: integrating climate risk into planning, investment, infrastructure, and policy systems in ways that support stronger long-term resilience.
Resources shared:
Invitation
As climate-related disasters become more frequent and disruptive, investors, companies, and governments need better ways to understand and act on climate risk. This webinar will explore approaches to climate disaster risk assessment and resilience, featuring:
Sahar Safaie, Climate Adaptation Solutions Director at Arcadis Canada, whose work spans disaster and climate risk assessment and climate adaptation across policy and practice, and
Neil Yeoh, Founder & CEO at OnePointFive, who leads climate strategy and implementation work, and will share practical resources for assessing climate risk assessment.
Through short presentations and discussion, the session will highlight emerging tools, real-world applications, and practical lessons for using climate-risk information in investment, planning, and strategy. See you at the session!