The Role of Past Experience with a Single Climate Physical Risk in Adaptation Response to Multiple Climate Physical Risks: A Multiple Case Study of Italian Companies

Abstract

With the increasing occurrence and intensity of weather and climate extremes, adaptation to climate change has become an imperative for all the societal actors, including companies. Business adaptation behavior is influenced by specific internal and external conditions. Based on a multiple case study of Italian companies within the project Life IRIS (Improve Resilience of Industry Sector), the paper examines the interaction of multiple physical risk drivers and organizational factors that trigger a change in the adaptation behavior of companies to climate change, from a deferred behavior to a reactive one and, then, to a pre-emptive behavior over time. In particular, the study shows how past experience with a single climate event can trigger a comprehensive strategy to deal with multiple climate events. Implications for management practice and policymakers are discussed at the end of the paper.