I am completely distressed to see a scientist being a climate change denier but that aside...
In the UK we are now asked for Environment Agency visits to consider the impact of climate change on our local impact. The kind of thing they are looking at is those what used to be one in 100 year events like extreme rainfall which are now more common. What could that do to water treatment etc.
I cannot see any business who will not or has not already been impacted by climate change.
I always think it's good to use something like "people, product, premises" when thinking about change. So what might happen?
People:
Could you have different immigration patterns (arguably already being seen). This may change risks of things like Hep A as areas of the world where it's common could then become your fruit and vegetable pickers.
Change in illness distribution - this could occur in your supply chain or in your area. Leading to increased absence etc.
Product:
Availability of certain ingredients may become more difficult.
Crop failures are already becoming more frequent.
Both of the above could lead to increased incentives for food fraud.
Animal diseases may increase especially in countries where the weather could become warmer and wetter.
Premises:
Flooding is already more likely in the UK. You don't even have to have a factory in a low lying area. There was a famous case where a factory on a hill flooded because of sheer volume. What impact would that have?
Increased refrigeration need for obvious reasons. Some UK cooling plants have not been specified to run at temperatures hotter than 40oC as until recently that never happened.
Moving to more renewables could mean peaks in supply may not match peaks in demand. In the event of still winter days particularly (so no wind power) that may mean that government requires factories to reduce production. What is the "keep the lights on and food safe" electrical loading?
As countries decarbonise, there may need to be investment into local grids as the energy use of homes (heating that was perhaps gas), cars and the existing electrical need go through the same source.
All of the above should be assessed by your SLT and thought about with a food safety risk perspective but also a wider risk management. One route many businesses have gone down in the UK is to put in AD plants with CHP plants so any food waste (e.g. peel) is made into methane which is then burned on site efficiently to produce both electricity but hot water and / or steam as a by-product. Much better than putting in mains gas CHP plants for the environment but also means it reduces the demand on the grid which could become a future issue. I would certainly be investing in efficient refrigeration now.
Oh climate change deniers are so depressing. If for no other reason though, even if you aren't a believer, the people who have the most fuel sources in the world don't always have the best interests of countries at heart who believe in things like "human rights". Our dependence on fossil fuels has to change whether you believe in climate change being a thing (like the vast majority of scientists who study it) or not.
