From Risk Awareness to Action: Insights from the 2026 GARP Climate & Nature Risk Symposium

Recently, Climate Spheres’ Lead Climate Scientist, Dr. Rosalind Haskins, attended the 2026 GARP Climate & Nature Risk Symposium in London. The symposium offered a fascinating and interdisciplinary exploration of climate and nature risks and their current and projected impacts on businesses, economies, and financial markets. Bringing together speakers and attendees from over 28 countries with expertise from the natural sciences, regulation, investment, and finance, the event provided realism and hope in equal measure, while highlighting the growing need for better risk communication, more informed decision-making, and greater collaboration in addressing our increasing environmental challenges.

Dangerously overlooked tipping points 

The symposium opened with hard-hitting scientific presentations, which set the tone for having real conversations that acknowledge the true scale of the challenges. This included discussing not only the commonly used scenarios, but also the risks from climate tipping points, such as Amazon rainforest dieback, AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) weakening, and coral reef die-off. These risks are increasing even at ~1.4°C warming, with observational data showing early warning signals of declining resilience in these systems. Speakers highlighted that these tipping points feed into each other. For example, the melting of the northern ice sheets can lead to a collapse of Atlantic ocean downwelling, weakening the AMOC. This in turn changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns that lead to die-back in the Amazon. Once they start to tip, they can act like dominos. 

The connection between climate change and human impacts was a strong focus throughout the symposium. For example, one tipping point that could be crossed very soon is coral reef die-off, which at first can sound sad but not devastating to our daily lives. It was, however, highlighted that not only do coral reefs support fisheries necessary for providing employment and dietary protein, but reefs also act as storm defences, protecting infrastructure and lives. Widespread action on climate change mitigation and adaptation will only come once these connections between environmental change and impacts on human life are better communicated and widely understood. 

Modernising our view of risk

Most of our understanding of risk is based on historical data, in which recent events can look like anomalies. However, by applying an understanding of climate change within risk we begin to see that many of these ‘anomalies’ are in fact the new normal, and will look moderate in the future. This backward looking view of risk often leads to an underestimate of risk and a failure to take proper precaution. A session during the symposium looked at ‘Black Swan’ events, such as the 2011 Bangkok floods which cost $40 billion and which surprised people looking at the historical record. These events were actually foreseeable by integrating climate change into risk assessment. 

A number of tech companies reported integrating climate scenarios into natural catastrophe modeling. The data used is often from CMIP6 models, which is widely available, global data that has been produced at considerable computational expense, and is often free to access. The model results are generally recognised as being conservative, which is positive for achieving complex international agreements (such as at COP), however when the results are used for understanding risk issues arise. Among other simplifications, the models lack representation of the various mechanisms necessary for capturing some of the natural feedbacks related to climate tipping points (i.e., without dynamic ice modelling, the freshwater input into the Atlantic expected to weaken downwelling will not be captured).

Psychological, communication, and economic barriers

A prominent theme throughout the symposium was the challenge of communicating climate risk in a way that effectively facilitates engagement and motivates action without causing negative reactions or rejection of facts. Much of society's response to climate change will be driven by how the risks are communicated and received. While the physical hazards continue to impact, the response in terms of policy, public opinion, and investment are strongly driven by the use of language. For example, it was highlighted that currently in the US terms such as ‘ESG’ and ‘green’ are viewed negatively, whereas the term ‘resilience’ and talk of ‘energy and food security’ facilitate broader engagement. On the other hand, among some ‘climate positive’ groups, there is a tendency of championing achievements that overstate the degree of real-world impact being achieved through environmental schemes (a corporation boasting of their Net Zero ambitions may not have truly identified a practical path that combines Net Zero with profitability).

Hope for the future

The GARP Climate & Nature Risk Symposium reinforced the reality that environmental risks are fundamentally systemic challenges that cannot be addressed through scientific, financial, or regulatory perspectives alone, and provided a platform for making these needed connections. Awareness of the need for a multidisciplinary response to climate and nature risks is becoming more broadly accepted, however gaps remain in moving from insight to action. At Climate Spheres, we focus on delivering solutions that connect environmental data, climate science, risk analysis, and stakeholder decision-making. We are committed to unlocking our partners capacity to manage their climate risks in a comprehensive and financially sustainable way. 

Authored by: Rosalind Haskins, PhD, Climate Spheres Lead Climate Scientist

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosalind-haskins