IN 2012, WHEN post-tropical storm Sandy devastated New York, the city was left in darkness. Among the few buildings still lit up was the headquarters of Goldman Sachs, which had a 25,000-sand-bag wall and a backup generator. Gary Cohn, then the bank's president, said one problem was how to get staff into the office in a shut-down city. In 2018, after a storm battered Vancouver Island, falling trees toppled electricity poles. The resulting power cut led to the closure of a water-treatment plant. And last January, when wildfires ravaged Australia's outback, the toxic air hampered production at a coalmine owned by BHP, a commodity giant.Businesses have always had to adapt to a changing environment. But climate change is making this far harder. As weather conditions worsen, some companies are responding. But it is impossible to mitigate all the risks. For many firms, the physical impact of climate change will affect them more through disaster-struck suppliers or inundated transport routes than in their own operations.
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