When will climate change impact your business? For many CEOs, the answer is right now

In the Conference Board’s annual survey of CEOs worldwide, almost half of global CEOs agree that climate change is a right-now problem, listing rising energy costs and greater regulation as primary concerns. 

Globally, 22% of CEOs said climate change is already having a big impact on their business. Broken down by region, CEOs in Europe were the most concerned—with 36% saying climate change is affecting their business right now—versus 23% in Latin America, 21% in the United States, 16% in Japan, and 14% in China. Less than a fifth of CEOs worldwide expect no impact from climate change in the next 20 years. 

CEOs globally ranked retaining talent as their primary internal concern for this year, with post-pandemic burnout taking a toll on the workforce. Companies want to create more resilient cultures with stronger leadership pipelines, but do not see diversity and inclusion programs as necessary for this end, with such efforts ranking tenth in human capital priorities. Investing in data-driven human capital management solutions is also not a priority, despite demand among the HR community, investors, and regulators.

Other important findings from the survey:

Recession woes: U.S. CEOs were blindsided by the recession, ranking it the sixth most concerning external factor in 2022. Now, inflation and the downturn are ranked as the most pressing concerns by companies worldwide, and they’re expected to last through 2023.
War concerns: European CEOs are most concerned about unrest in Ukraine, but CEOs worldwide consider the risk of cyberattacks to be increasing due to the war.
ESG momentum: CEOs report that spending on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) will not decrease in spite of the downturn.
Supply-chain relief: Supply chains seem to be returning to normal, with supply-chain issues ranking lower as a concern than in 2022.

The Conference Board produced its report based on survey responses in November and December of last year from over 1,100 C-suite executives, including 670 CEOs. Twenty-four percent of respondents were based in the United States, 20% in Latin America, 16% in Europe, 13% in Japan, and 12% in China.