The Looming Inferno: Increasing Wildfire Preparedness

The Need for a Firebreak

Wildfires are uncontrolled fires that wreak havoc on forests, grasslands, and other natural landscapes. Headlines are often dominated by these ravaging fires, which scorch millions of acres. For instance, the wildfire season in Europe in 2023 saw unprecedented destruction, with over half a million hectares ravaged(1). These fires displaced communities and left a trail of extensive damage. However, the impact extends beyond the immediate human cost. Businesses, both large and small, are increasingly threatened by these fierce blazes.

© Hellenic Fire Corps (photographer: George Chionidis)

The Price of Fire: A Grim Reality 

Global losses due to wildfires over the past five years total a staggering USD 60 billion(2). This grim figure is expected to continue rising. As a business owner, here is why you should be concerned:

Is your Business in the Fire Line?

While industries like forestry and tourism may appear to be most vulnerable to wildfires, the potential impact is far-reaching. Wildfires can significantly disrupt various facets of modern business operations:

• Supply Chain Disruptions: Wildfires can damage vital infrastructure, such as transportation routes, causing delays and disruptions to your supply chain. Essential materials or finished goods might end up stranded in fire-impacted areas.
• Infrastructure Collapse: Infrastructure such as power lines, communication networks, and transportation routes are susceptible to wildfires. A single fire can trigger a cascade of failures, leaving your business without power, communication, or transportation.
• Rolling Blackouts and Energy Problems: Wildfires can damage power plants and disrupt transmission lines, leading utility companies to start rolling blackouts. These outages can hinder your operations, resulting in lost productivity and revenue.
• Asset Value Reduction: Wildfires pose a significant risk to the value of assets, including real estate, agricultural land, and renewable energy installations. A wildfire can cause serious damage, rendering your property unusable or significantly devalued.

The Culprit: Why Wildfires Are on the Rise

The escalating threat of wildfires is driven by a combination of factors:

• Human Activity: While natural causes like lightning strikes and volcanic eruptions can ignite fires, human actions, such as changes in land use and forest fragmentation, account for most wildfires(3). Whether accidental or intentional, these actions significantly contribute to the spread of fires.
• Climate Change: Increasing global temperatures result in prolonged droughts and more severe weather events, cultivating an environment highly susceptible to wildfires.

Looking into the Future is Concerning

A recent report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)(4) presents a worrying forecast. It predicts an alarming rise in severe wildfires: 14% by 2030, 30% by 2050, and an astounding 50% by the close of this century. These figures highlight the immediate need for action.

The Critical Importance of Wildfire Risk Assessment

In our current climate-conscious world, businesses can't afford to overlook wildfire risk. Here are the reasons why commercial wildfire preparedness is essential for climate risk assessment disclosures and regulations:

• Investor Confidence: Investors are increasingly demanding transparency about climate-related risks, including wildfires. Precise wildfire risk assessments boost investor confidence and showcase sound risk management practices.
• Regulatory Compliance: Various countries and regions are requiring climate risk disclosures, which include wildfire risk assessments. Businesses must be ready to report their exposure and mitigation measures.
• Proactive Risk Management: Pinpointing high-risk areas enables proactive mitigation strategies such as creating defensible spaces, controlled burns, and fuel reduction efforts.

Introducing refinq: Your Shield Against Wildfires

At refinq, we understand the crucial need for data-driven wildfire risk assessments. That's why we created refinq, a state-of-the-art platform that empowers businesses to assess and manage their climate risk exposure.

How refinq Helps Businesses Navigate Wildfire Risk

Traditional risk assessments provide a general overview but often lack the detailed insights businesses need to make informed decisions. refinq surpasses generic ratings by providing hyper-local wildfire risk insights, enabling you to handle this escalating threat.

• Regulation-Ready Assessments: Our physical climate risk assessments are grounded in Appendix A from the EU Taxonomy regulation, ensuring your assessments comply with the most current standards.
• A 3-Step Approach to Risk Management: We simplify the risk management process into three clear steps:
  1. Risk Identification: We identify the wildfire threats specific to your location. (Add a map here - and a score range example).
  2. Risk and Vulnerability Assessment: We do not just assess risk – we evaluate your vulnerability to those risks for a more comprehensive understanding.
  3. Adaptation Solutions: If high risks are detected, refinq suggests tailored strategies to help you mitigate wildfire threats and foster resilience.
• Unmatched Granularity with High-Resolution Analysis: No matter your business timeframe, our tool uses advanced, high-resolution climate projections to assess wildfire risks at your specific locations. This offers the most detailed insights possible, permitting informed decisions about individual sites.
• Future-Proof Planning with Scenario Projections: We utilise cutting-edge Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change **(**IPCC) Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) climate projections extending upto to 2100, preparing you for potential future wildfire impacts.
• Data-Driven Insights You Can Trust: refinq provides not just generic advice, but actionable information supported by robust data. We leverage an array of continuously updated data sources for the most accurate risk calculations possible. These sources include:
  1. Remote sensing data from Copernicus Climate Change Service (5)
  2. World Bank Open Data (6)
  3. Inter-Sectoral Model Intercomparison Project (7)
  4. Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase (CMIP6) (8)

Empowering Informed Decisions for a Sustainable Future

With refinq, you can progress from reactive wildfire response to proactive risk management. You will be able to make informed investment decisions, minimize potential losses, understand the potential need for setting up emergency action plans, and demonstrate your dedication to a sustainable future.

Ready to Take Control of Your Business's Wildfire Risk?

Do not let wildfires catch you off guard. Contact us today to learn more about how refinq can help you assess and manage your wildfire risk.

Together, let us build a more resilient future, one informed decision at a time. Let refinq be your firebreak.

References:

1. **https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and-updates/wildfires-2023-among-worst-eu-century-2024-04-10_en#:~:text=A sharp increase in burnt,fourth worst year since 2000.**
2. https://www.swissre.com/risk-knowledge/mitigating-climate-risk/wildfires.html
3. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1617394114
4. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/number-wildfires-rise-50-2100-and-governments-are-not-prepared
5. https://www.copernicus.eu/
6. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/
7. https://www.isimip.org/
8. https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/CMIP6/