More than three-quarters of the world’s oil and gas companies surveyed believe climate change could impact their business: increasing downtime, system failures and safety; but only 19% are taking action, according to an Acclimatise report sponsored by IBM.

“The oil and gas industry is an important contributor to our society and economy, so if anything impacts the industry, it could well impact people at home, at work, on the move or even their personal finances,” said Allan Roberts, an IBM industrial strategy and change leader. “While oil and gas companies are typically well run and have systems for monitoring risks, they have been exposed to problems with their major projects and operations in the past. Evidence in the report shows companies may not be fully appreciating the risks posed by climate change or have in place responses which are robust.”

The report, titled “Global Oil & Gas — The Adaptation Challenge,” is based on the Carbon Disclosure Project’s annual request for investor information that was sent to the world’s largest 128 oil and gas companies. The report identified the top five impacts of climate change and the industry implications:

“It is difficult to justify the position taken by any company that fails to assess the vulnerability of existing and future assets to acute and chronic changing climatic risks, given the information we now have,” said Acclimatise CEO John Firth. “Companies that develop an integrated approach, recognizing that we no longer have a stable climate, will be the winners. This is not merely an environmental issue, it is about bottom line consequences and the future viability of oil and gas companies.”

©Copyright 2009Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.