When Extreme Weather Hits: Why Businesses Can’t Afford to Ignore It
Extreme weather is no longer a distant threat, it’s a pressing business risk with profound consequences:The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) reports that total global disaster costs now exceed USD 2.3 trillion annually when accounting for indirect and ecosystem impacts, nearly a tenfold increase from 1970 – 2000 levels.
The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the University of Exeter, warns extreme weather could cause USD 560–610 billion in fixed‑asset losses annually by 2035, hitting sectors like utilities, logistics, and telecoms the hardest, and cutting up to 7% of average company earnings.
A 2025 Gallagher survey found 69% of business leaders view severe weather as a top operational threat, yet only 30% have flood insurance. Meanwhile, 57% are exploring site relocation or resilience upgrades to mitigate exposure.
These figures reflect more than just rising costs; they signal a fundamental shift in the risk landscape, where extreme weather translates directly into workforce disruption, operational downtime, and growing compliance obligations.
At International SOS, we see the daily human and business toll of nature-caused disruption. In fact, our own data shows an 80% year-on-year increase in medical alerts linked to extreme weather. Yet despite rising concern, many organisations remain underprepared.
That’s why we support clients in moving from awareness to action, delivering global Natural Hazards and Health Adaptation assessments, site-specific vulnerability analysis, crisis preparedness planning, and health-focused advisory to help strengthen workforce safety, operational continuity, and long-term resilience.
- USD 2 - 4 Billion
per year estimated in the direct health costs caused by natural hazards and extreme weather conditions by 2030*
- 250,000
additional deaths per year, between 2023 and 2050, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress due to natural hazards and extreme weather conditions**
EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS ADVISORY BASED ON SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE & BEST PRACTICE
Our Global Health and Security Advisors focus on anticipating potential threats linked to natural hazards through the provision of strategic advice on crisis preparedness and business continuity tailored for the C-Suite. Our experts support you with Natural Hazard and Health Adaptation reviews at both organisational and site levels, alongside Health Impact evaluations and Crisis Management gap analyses.
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MONITOR, PLAN & EFFECTIVELY RESPOND TO NATURAL HAZARDS AND EXTREME WEATHER CONDITION THREATS
Our Site Monitor platform equips you to vigilantly monitor, collaborate, and formulate management responses to natural hazards related health, security, and natural disaster threats. The platform empowers management teams to engage in proactive planning, conduct drills, and respond to threats through 50+ plans covering health, environmental, security, and natural disaster scenarios.
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EMPOWERING ACTION THROUGH INFORMATION & ASSISTANCE
Our Workforce Resilience programme leverages digital tools to enable organisations to anticipate and respond to natural hazards incidents, and the subsequent medical or security implications. Backed up by our 28 Assistance Centres, primed to respond swiftly, dispatching incident management teams and resources to support affected employees and operations.
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EMOTIONAL SUPPORT FOR THOSE AFFECTED BY NATURAL HAZARDS ANXIETY
Exposure to natural hazards incidents, unfamiliar environments, or extreme weather conditions can impact employees. In times of stress or anxiety, individuals often require professional emotional support, often at short notice and in their native language.
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EDUCATION AND AWARENESS FOR REMOTE SITES
Whether through an on-site talk, virtual training session or health promotion materials, International SOS’s medical experts develop best-in-class Informational sessions for managers or employees with content across a range of health topics for site-based workers.
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TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR NATURAL HAZARDS RESILIENT HEALTH SERVICES AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Our Aid and Development Technical Advisors support Ministries of Health and other development partners to build clinical services models, hospitals, and primary healthcare facilities that are adaptable and resilient in the face of natural hazard exposure and meet the needs of the population now and in the future.
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HOW WE SUPPORT OUR CLIENTS
Ensuring Safety and Security: Assisting Safe Evacuations from Wildfires in Rhodes, Greece
|Rhodes, GreeceIn the recent wildfires in Rhodes, Greece, our on-the-ground security experts, and network of global providers were able to help our client, NSO Group, and their travellers safely evacuate the island. Discover how we effectively navigated the complexities of this operation, ensuring the safety and security of all travellers involved.
AssistanceDuty of CareEvacuationSecurityCritical Medical Support for Mikisew Cree First Nation During Wildfire Evacuation
|Alberta, CanadaInternational SOS provided support to swiftly deployed a skilled medical team equipped with essential supplies in response to a wildfire-driven evacuation of Fort Chipewyan in Canada.
AssistanceCrisis ManagementDuty of CareEvacuationRespect & Care
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Navigating the Storm: Helping your Organisation Prepare for the Natural Hazards and Extreme Weather Conditions
Extreme Weather Conditions are no longer a topic that can be ignored in the executive boardroom or delegated to risk management teams. Understand the impacts, planning, preparation, and adaptation to your organisation from a rapidly changing environment.
The Transformative Effects of Global Warming and Extreme Weather on the Corporate Workforce
Our expert Dr Vikram Vora shares eight points on how the effects of Global Warming and Extreme Weather have impacted corporate employees around the world and suggests building workforce resilience in response.Read Article
Corporate Health and Security Challenges Associated with Extreme Weather
Organisations play a pivotal role in protecting the health and safety of their people. Our experts Dr Irene Lai and Yoshiro Fukuma share their suggestions on mitigating the current risks.
Hawaii Wildfires
In this podcast, our experts explain how we supported our clients amidst the Hawaii wildfires and helping to get them to safety.
Greece Wildfires: Rhodes Rescue
In this podcast, our security expert provides insight on how we helped our clients get to safety amidst the wildfires in Greece.Listen Now
What is the Impact of Wildfires on Health?
Wildfires have a harmful impact on health and increase morbidity and mortality burden. Organisations can consider a multipronged approach to control the wildfires and their health effects.
What Are the Health Implications of Heatwaves?
Heatwaves can increase the strain on health and emergency services as well as increase demand on water, energy and transportation leading to power outages.Read More
Air Pollution: should you be Concerned?
Pollution affects business operations in many ways, from changes to traffic, vehicle design requirements, bans on burning, and even shutting some manufacturing plants at times.Read More
Does air pollution actually affect our health enough to warrant these actions?
When is it Safe to Return After a Natural Disaster
With the recent devastation of natural disasters around the world, organisations are challenged more than ever to keep local business operations stable, while ensuring the safety and wellbeing of their people.
Assessing your Organisation's Pandemic Preparedness
To support organisations in managing a future pandemic or crisis, we have created a new self-assessment tool dedicated to understanding an organisations maturity regarding pandemic preparedness.
WHY PARTNER WITH INTERNATIONAL SOS?
Almost 40 Years’ Experience
We have almost forty years of medical and security experience in preparing for and responding to extreme weather events, natural disasters and pandemics.
Local Presence & Global Infrastructure
Organisations can leverage our deep boots-the-ground knowledge as well as our global digital tools and platforms to manage risk associated with climate events.
Health & Security Combined
We combine our expertise in health and security to deal with the immediate impacts of climate-related events and also the knock-on effects, e.g. civil unrest.