Utilities not aware of climate change financial risk: IBM report

According to an IBM-sponsored report on climate change, while the majority of power utilities globally know the impact of climate change, less than a third have actually conducted a financial review of its impact.

Climate change presents a number of hazards to utilities such as water shortage, hike in demands, power shortages due to weather, etc. The introduction of electric vehicles and other new technologies has also been credited with rising demand for power.

Factors cited as reasons for a lack of financial review of climate impact is the uncertainty surrounding the nature of the impact, its timing, and the financial model that could take account of these changes.

The utilities report, a part of a series of four reports on climate change, ''explores the actions taken by electric utilities to assess and manage the risks and opportunities brought about by climate change. It analyses the current energy challenges, what the impacts of climate change are for the electricity sector and what action companies should be taking,'' informs IBM on its website.

While nearly half of the utilities cited their efforts at managing climate change by curbing carbon emissions and other such methods, not many of these considered adapting to climate change resulting from factors that had already accumulated.

IBM has been interested in climate change for some time, and it also makes smart-grid and other products. It considers energy and utilities as as high growth sector.