Climate Adaptation: Unlocking Value Chains with the Power of Technology

The report highlights the urgent need for systemic climate adaptation to avoid projected global GDP losses of 16% to 22% by 2100. It advocates for the creation of 'collaboration platforms' where stakeholders share data and technology to overcome barriers like high upfront costs and lack of standardized metrics. The document details specific technological applications—such as AI, Earth observation, and IoT—across food, energy, and manufacturing sectors to mitigate physical risks to assets and operations.

• Current investment levels in climate action put the world on a trajectory of approximately 3°C warming by 2100, which could result in cumulative GDP losses between 16% and 22%. However, investing less than 1% of cumulative GDP in adaptation could avoid economic losses of up to 4% of GDP.
• Climate risks threaten value chains across five dimensions: natural resources (raw material quality/quantity), operations (supply chain disruption), assets (destruction of production capacity), employees (health impacts), and market (shifting consumer preferences).
• Frontier technologies enable a three-stage adaptation cycle: comprehending risks (using AI, Earth observation, IoT, and drones), building resilience (optimizing infrastructure and early-warning systems), and responding dynamically (using drones for emergency aid and situational awareness).
• Food systems are highly vulnerable to climate change; under current warming trajectories, yields for rice, maize, and soybean could drop by 24% by 2030. Adaptation investments in this sector show a perceived benefit-to-cost ratio of 19:1, reaching up to 43:1 in some cases.
• Energy systems face significant physical risks due to immovable assets; in the US, 83% of reported power outages between 2000 and 2021 were weather-related. By 2050, physical risks could put up to 16% of yearly EBITDA at risk in the energy sector under a 3.0°C scenario.
• Manufacturing systems are susceptible to 'ripple effects' where localized climate events cause global disruptions, such as droughts at the Panama Canal reducing vessel traffic from 40 to 24 per day. Unmanaged supply chain disruptions could cause annual losses between $3.75 trillion and $24.7 trillion by 2025.
• The report proposes 'collaboration platforms' to scale-up adaptation, innovate, and protect. These platforms should perform three roles: unlocking and sharing data, integrating and developing technologies (such as AI foundation models), and supporting implementation through shared insights.
• Successful collaboration platforms require a governance model (such as a public-private partnership), a sustainable funding model combining public and private sources, and clear rules of engagement regarding data ownership and intellectual property.

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). Climate Adaptation: Unlocking Value Chains with the Power of Technology. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Climate_Adaptation_Unlocking_Value_Chains_with_the_Power_of_Technology_2025.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Climate Adaptation: Unlocking Value Chains with the Power of Technology. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Climate_Adaptation_Unlocking_Value_Chains_with_the_Power_of_Technology_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Climate Adaptation: Unlocking Value Chains with the Power of Technology |date=January 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Climate_Adaptation_Unlocking_Value_Chains_with_the_Power_of_Technology_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025climate, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Climate Adaptation: Unlocking Value Chains with the Power of Technology}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Climate_Adaptation_Unlocking_Value_Chains_with_the_Power_of_Technology_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }