New GLI-Schroders Toolkit Provides Framework on Climate Risk Resilience and Adaptation

The ILR School’s Global Labor Institute (GLI), in collaboration with Schroders – a global investment management company – has published the first-ever climate adaptation guidance for investor engagement with firms.

“Engaging with companies on Just Resilience: An Investor Toolkit” aims to raise awareness of the social implications of physical climate risk and adaptation and identify good practices for action. The toolkit is intended to provide information to investors and companies wishing to engage on the topic and help build a common understanding of risks and solutions.

Cornell GLI executive director, Jason Judd, said extreme weather and physical climate risks represent "serious health hazards" for garment workers and result in material risks for brands.

"Adaptation investments that protect workers and supply chains are urgently needed and must go hand-in-hand with social protection mechanisms," Judd said.

"These are critical for allowing the fashion industry - which sources in many of the world's most climate-vulnerable countries - to adapt to physical climate risk and ensure workers and supply chains are future-fit."

The toolkit was constructed on the framework of GLI’s ‘Higher Ground’ reports, which found that the apparel industry faces acute challenges, with heat stress and flooding projected to cause substantial gross domestic product losses in countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Vietnam by 2030.