Studies on the impact of business processes on climate change typically focus on how companies can mitigate their environmental impact. Although this question is important, research on climate change mitigation often fails to address what businesses need to do to adapt to current, unavoidable trends in our planet’s climate. Kogod School of Business management professor Garima Sharma, along with her co-authors Mirko H. Benischke, Beatrice D’Ippolito, and Christopher Wickert, see an opportunity for researchers in management and organizational leadership to study climate change adaptation alongside climate change mitigation. Their paper, “Climate Change Adaptation: New Vistas for Management Research,” explores the benefits of integrating both mitigation and adaptation techniques into management research on the relationship between business and the environment.

Mitigation vs. Adaptation

What’s the difference between mitigation and adaptation, and why does it matter? Most discussions of how businesses impact the world around them focus on how to reduce a company’s environmental impact through carbon emission and greenhouse gas reduction, sustainability initiatives, and regulations. These questions fall under the umbrella of climate change mitigation research, specifically addressing how organizations can reduce or eliminate their environmental impact. Though this research remains important, it doesn’t always address the equally important reality that the planet’s climate has already changed. Extreme weather events, ranging from heatwaves to storms, have become increasingly common around the world. Although mitigation efforts can potentially reduce future damage, many of the changes that have already occurred cannot be reversed.

As a result, the way businesses function needs to adapt to the issues that a changing climate can cause. Many companies utilize global supply chains that can be disrupted or collapse entirely due to extreme weather, and their leaders need to evaluate how climate-related events impact their workforce and infrastructure. Efforts to readjust how business is conducted in the face of our current climate are known as climate change adaptation. As Sharma and her co-authors explain in their paper, leaders will need to become comfortable with adaptation strategies to ensure that their businesses can withstand existing environmental issues.

A Research Agenda for Today’s Climate

With the importance of understanding climate change adaptation in mind, Sharma and her co-authors presented a proposed research agenda in their paper for individuals studying management and business organization. In their view, climate change adaptation does not exist in opposition to climate change mitigation; in fact, meaningful research on business and climate should combine the two. The paper recommends exploring questions about the relationship between climate change adaptation and mitigation, the risks and opportunities of adaptive behaviors, and the importance of proactive adaptation. The authors also present a list of potential questions that researchers in this space can ask, proposing a wide range of discussions that can guide the future of how we discuss the relationship between business and climate.

The relationship between climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts can be mutually beneficial. In an ideal situation, strategies for adaptation can also be adjusted to promote mitigation efforts, leading to businesses that are both resilient enough to handle today’s challenges and forward-thinking enough to reduce their contributions to future challenges. However, the relationship also runs the risk of having a negative impact if businesses view adaptation as an alternative to mitigation. If a company’s leaders determine how to effectively adapt to climate change, they might assume that they no longer need to mitigate their environmental impact, as they can simply continue adjusting to new climate realities. As a result, the paper’s authors explain that further research on climate change adaptation management can shed light on the relationship between adaptation and mitigation efforts and determine the most effective ways to focus on both without prioritizing one strategy over the other.

The paper’s authors also suggest exploring what proactive climate adaptation entails and the challenges associated with adaptive strategies. Although adaptation, by definition, occurs in response to something, businesses that implement adaptive strategies often do so in anticipation of a challenge. The paper suggests asking questions about the relationship between adaptation, time, and space; in other words, how do organizations build strategies to adapt to something that hasn’t happened yet, and how do they adjust their strategies for different times and locations? By researching answers to these questions, management scholars can shed light on the qualities of resilient plans that can adapt and withstand unexpected challenges.

The Future of Climate Research

Although the paper makes the case for why businesses need to adapt to climate change, it’s essential to remember that the authors are not promoting adaptation as the sole solution. Research on how companies can reduce their environmental impact remains vital to creating a more sustainable business world; however, these companies also need to ensure they’re setting themselves up to continue succeeding in the face of existing environmental changes.