Today marks a milestone in confronting emerging global economic, environmental and technological transformations.
More than 600 businesses, ranging from HSBC, Tesco, Arup, Atkins, WSP, Intel, Perkins&Will, The Crown Estate and NBC Universal International underpin this ground-breaking collaboration between Resilience Shift and Resilience First. The businesses in this network with annual revenues of more than $3trillion, employ more than 10million staff, and have a presence in more than 150 countries; value and invest in resilience.
This new global platform will be a catalyst for creating a safe, resilient, and sustainable future for all. They will form a single global hub to spur knowledge, advice and best practice, and bring forth innovative, resilient solutions to pervasive climate, economic and societal challenges by:
- Influencing government policy to help incentivise and enhance critical, climate resilient infrastructure
- Stimulating resilience-focused finance and investment
- Building an unrivalled global community that enables disparate industries and communities to work together to enhance public and private sector resilience
- Creating cross-sector networks and working groups to share knowledge, advice and best practice, and make practical recommendations
- Promoting global leadership on bold, decisive action on resilience
This strategic partnership comes at a critical juncture for businesses, cities, and governments to effectively respond to sudden shocks, such as the COVID-19 global pandemic. While the world is still reeling from the pandemic and governments look to jumpstart global economies, prioritising and ensuring a resilient future is more important now than ever.
Leading science highlights that the world has less than 10-years to avert the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Climate-related disasters alone have cost the world economy US$650bn over the past three years.[1]
It is crucial for businesses and the public sector to work together in addressing future uncertainties. The newly combined forces of The Resilience Shift and Resilience First will help governments and businesses promote economic recovery and shape post-pandemic stimulus that builds resilience and accelerates global decarbonisation efforts.
“The next five years are critical to the future of our planet and resilience will be central to helping us survive and thrive,” says Seth Schultz, Executive Director of The Resilience Shift. “We need to be able to withstand and adapt to changing conditions and recover positively from shocks and stresses. Today’s announcement is the beginning of many radical shifts that will more appropriately prepare us to meet the challenges of the coming decade. We invite organisations to join us in our mission for a more resilient world".
Simon Collins, Chair of Resilience First, said ‘Resilience has been brought into sharp focus by Covid, but needs to be a permanent priority. The strategic partnership between these two organisations creates a platform with substantial convening power, reach and voice to help build resilience in businesses and the communities in which they operate.’
Dame Jo da Silva, Global Sustainable Development Leader at Arup. “Over the last year, the importance of resilience has been made starkly clear; from firms enabling us all to adapt to online work or adapting to online product and services, through to healthcare services responding to the massive increase in intensive care cases, and even energy and transport networks operating on a skeleton staff. This ability to adapt to and recover from crisis or change will only become more critical as we navigate the implications of climate change, digital transformation, a growing population and less resources over the next 20 years. I am delighted that today the Resilience Shift joins forces with Resilience First bringing business and infrastructure providers together with a shared ambition to create a safer world.”
Richard Clegg, Chief Executive of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation “Our aim at Lloyd’s Register Foundation is to make the world safer. Resilience to expected and unexpected challenges is a key part of that. We are proud that our support of both The Resilience Shift and Resilience First has resulted in an opportunity for these two organizations to bring their forces together to accelerate resilience theory into practice, through a global community of action. This partnership enables organisations and industries to work together to scale up the changes needed to deliver a resilient and safer world."
About The Resilience Shift
The Resilience Shift, supported by Lloyd’s Register Foundation and Arup, has built a global community of interest from its roots in providing new collaborations, knowledge, tools and approaches to ensure a transformative approach to the resilience of critical infrastructure.
About Resilience First
Resilience First is a highly respected business-oriented membership organisation, created by London First and supported by blue-chip Champions and key stakeholders in a cross-section of industry sectors, with a mission to advance resilience best practice across urban business communities.
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/14/climate-disasters-cost-650-billion-over-3-years-morgan-stanley.html