Regardless of your beliefs, if you are a business owner in just about any industry, climate change is something you are going to have to worry about eventually. It affects more than just the environment and people’s personal lives. If it begins to affect your business, it could potentially wreck your livelihood by harming your income. If this is a subject you don’t know too much about, fear now. Here are 3 ways climate change may affect your business and some tips for combatting them.
Flooding
Flooded parking lots, basements, or other parts of your building may start to become a major concern with the way climate change seems to be headed. With water levels rising, floods are becoming more and more common, even in areas they weren’t before. As a business owner, you can prepare for this by limiting what you keep on your first floor (i.e. don’t leave all of your most important documents there, and if you have to, keep them up high on a shelf). Removing potholes in your parking lot will also be helpful because it gives the water fewer areas to pool. This is a win-win, because additionally, this will eliminate driving hazards that will be appealing to customers/clients as well as your employees.
Electric Bills
As climates are changing at rapid rates and levels, many places are getting warmer and warmer, and proof of this is being recorded each and every year. As a business owner, this should concern you because you may have higher electric bills to worry about because of it. As temperatures rise, you will notice that you are having to run the air conditioner more often and this can cost a lot!
The same goes for places that are seeing colder temperatures recorded because heating a building can get just as expensive. Keep track of your monthly electric bills as well as any other business costs associated with the temperature in your area. This way you will know exactly how much you are being directly affected and can react accordingly.
Sales
This is totally dependent on what type of business yours is, but it is definitely possible that your sales could be directly affected by climate change. If you sell bulky winter jackets, for instance, and the winters are getting warmer and warmer in many areas, long term this may not bode well for you. One way to combat this is to change your business model slightly or add some other products to your arsenal.
At the end of the day, as the owner of a business, it’s important to be ready for anything that comes your way. This includes the good and the bad, and things totally out of your control such as climate change. Hopefully these tips will help you to be more prepared, just in case!
