Building resilient communities: adapting to climate risks

It’s time to understand the implications of targeted attacks against critical utilities and infrastructure and take action. Boards and senior leaders are responsible for protecting New Zealand communities and must act intentionally to safeguard our places, spaces and people. For leaders unsure of their cyber risks and vulnerabilities, now is the time to ask questions.

The next five years will see New Zealand’s water industry fundamentally change in the way it operates. The growing regulatory focus on large infrastructure is set to drive the next wave of cybersecurity changes. With Australia leading the way in operation technology cybersecurity, strengthened guidelines or legislation updates are likely on New Zealand’s periphery.

If we consider the Australian journey as an example, the four-year gap between the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 and the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure Protection) Act 2022 gave Australian organisations time to step-up. And today, the risk management practices of critical infrastructure providers in Australia have never been stricter. The time is now for New Zealand to prepare for the equivalent and review risks before it becomes a mandated requirement.

While this white paper takes a global lens, it remains relevant to New Zealand’s evolving cyber landscape. We anticipate radical shifts, including regulations and heightened public scrutiny, which demands new approaches and solutions. Among the myriad of risks is the shift of SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems to virtualised web-based platforms, introducing the inherent risk of technology change.

Although New Zealand has made progress in its cyber maturity, work remains and must happen soon. Leaders must put the risks and vulnerabilities under a microscope and cybersecurity must be holistically integrated into operation strategy and company ethos.

In response to these challenges, we are developing a new solution to help our clients proactively plan for, adapt and respond to immediate and future threats. We call this solution ‘Climate Risk and Resilience’, it’s a holistic approach that encompasses a suite of interconnected services, processes, and creative problem-solving techniques to help our clients better respond to climate change-related threats to their business. 

Using this adaptive framework, we ‘plug in’ any existing planning that our client may have undertaken and then work through various scenarios. We then identify a tailored suite of climate risk assessment, management and response solutions for our clients to consider for application at all scales. Through this exercise, we can create a workable blueprint for fully integrating climate risk and resilience into their operations.

Climate Risk and Resilience is a scalable solution, tailored to tackle complex challenges at any stage of planning, program management or asset lifecycle. By taking a macro view, we can account for intersecting social, cultural, economic and environmental factors in our recommendations to clients and help them focus on outcomes and value to stakeholders. 

Our approach enables us to dig deeper into our clients’ challenges through a facilitated engagement process, gathering new perspectives and identifying new voices to bring to the table. In doing so, we can identify actionable pathways towards a more resilient future for our clients, the infrastructure they deliver and the communities they serve. 

With a focus on collaboration, Climate Risk and Resilience draws on innovative approaches such as design thinking, origination and co-creation, to creatively work through the information and insights gathered. This smarter, more collaborative way of working helps to rapidly identify a logically phased ‘resilience roadmap’ that can then be planned and funded in stages.

Meaningful client partnerships underpin the success of our Climate Risk and Resilience approach. Our solution is grounded in our ability to foster an environment within which we can test and challenge assumptions. Together, we will create solutions that enable our clients to better respond and adapt to change – ensuring our future communities feel supported by the infrastructure around them.