Corporate Sustainability Report - Flipbook - Page 67
Sustainability Report
Strategy
Climate-related risks and opportunities in
the short-, medium-, and long-term
Re昀氀ecting on our progress outlined in our
previous disclosures, we continue to improve
our understanding, through the use of climate
scenario analyses, of climate-related risks and
opportunities across multiple time horizons,
and how climate change may impact aspects
of Access’ business strategy, operations,
and 昀椀nances as extreme weather conditions
increase in frequency and intensity.
Additionally, Access has developed its carbon
reduction plan and submission to the SBTi,
con昀椀rming our comprehensive approach to
decarbonisation. The outputs of this initiative
have supported our understanding of the
decarbonisation pathways available, and
management of the associated risks and
opportunities.
The Group categorises risks according to the
likelihood of occurrence and the potential
impact on the Group. Climate-related risks
are identi昀椀ed through horizon-scanning
sessions including subject matter experts and
the Access Management Team. These are
tabled by the Director of Sustainability at the
Risk Committee. Following review by the Risk
Committee, climate-related risks are tabled at
the ESG Steering Committee and the Audit &
Risk Sub-Committee.
Potential risks related to existing and future
regulation, reputation and markets, potential
昀椀nancial impacts, and physical climate change
are all considered carefully.
Once identi昀椀ed, risks are prioritised using
a risk matrix approach which assesses the
potential impact on the Group and the
likelihood of occurrence.
Risks are assessed over the short-, medium-,
and long-term on both a gross basis and
net basis, i.e. without considering existing
mitigations and then with existing mitigations,
respectively.
As part of its overall risk-management
strategy, Access has identi昀椀ed a number
climate-related risks and opportunities which
have been categorised into physical and
transition risks.
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In terms of our environmental planning
horizons, we have aligned the cycles with those
of the business and reporting cycles.
Time horizon de昀椀nitions:
•
Short-term: one to three years (aligned with
business planning cycle which is used to
forecast future cash昀氀ows)
•
Medium-term: three to 昀椀ve years (used to
forecast and track progress against interim
targets
•
Long-term: 昀椀ve to 10 years (aligns with our
timeframes for the achievement of nearterm environmental targets)
We acknowledge that the models used in
assessing our risks are inherently uncertain and
contain underlying assumptions, which a昀昀ect
their outcome. A summary is listed below:
