Introduction

In 2025, the costs of climate change for industrial companies are a measurable reality :

• 1 trillion dollars of risks by 2030 (source : CDP).

• 44.5 billion euros/year of losses in Europe (source : European Environment Agency).

Yet, only 24% of industrialists measure their Scope 3 emissions (EcoVadis/BCG, 2025), and even fewer assess the social, geopolitical, or climate risks on their value chain.
The solution? A holistic approach combining Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and multi-dimensional risk analysis (social, geopolitical, climate, etc.). This is precisely what Sapiologie proposes.

1. We are experiencing a period of great changes

The world is in constant change. These changes are multiple and tend to accelerate.

• The climate is changing faster and faster

• Social inequalities are exacerbating, and social scandals are becoming more frequent

• Resources are dwindling

• The global geopolitical situation is tense

Moreover, there are numerous negative feedback loops in these world developments. The most vulnerable populations are the most exposed to climate change, which contributes to accelerating their precarity. The reduction in resource availability affects these vulnerable populations more severely, as they are not equipped to play the market game.
Furthermore, they generally benefit the least financially from resource exploitation.
All these injustices create the breeding ground for political and geopolitical instability.

2. The more linear and globalized the value chain, the greater the risk

Globalized value chains are generally:

• opaque, thus with a high social risk and a strong reputational risk

• transport-intensive

• sensitive to geopolitical changes

• sensitive to climate change

And this is regularly observed in the news:

• Porsche loses 1 to 2 billion due to floods at one of its suppliers

• Decathlon accused of using Chinese subcontractors employing children and involved in forced labor of Uyghurs

• Suez Canal: a cargo ship stranded due to an unprecedented storm, a consequence of climate change, blocks 8 billion euros of goods per day.

• Conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, combined with the effects of global warming, result in a disruption of traffic that finds new shipping routes on the seas and oceans.

3. The supply chain: the blind spot of companies

• Supplies (scope 3) represent 80 to 90% of a company's total carbon footprint.

• On a product scale, they account for an average of 85% of the environmental impacts of the product over its entire life cycle

• Only 24% of companies measure their scope 3 emissions, and even fewer assess the social, geopolitical, or climate risks on their value chain. (EcoVadis/BCG, 2025)

Companies have a very poor understanding of their value chain, which is partly why they struggle to measure and thus reduce their scope 3 emissions, as well as their exposure to the various risks mentioned above.

4. The cost of inaction is substantial

• More than 200 of the world's largest listed companies anticipate that climate change could cost them almost 1 trillion dollars (888 billion euros) in total, largely in the next five years, according to a report from the CDP organization.

• This represents 15 to 20% of the EBIT of companies in the S&P 500

5. Anticipation as a lever for competitiveness

• Potential opportunities worth 2.1 trillion dollars (CDP)

• Up to $19 of losses avoided for every $1 invested in adaptation or decarbonization. (WEF and BCG)

Cost-benefit report of adaptation and resilience measures perceived by the companies themselves Source: The Cost of Inaction: A CEO Guide to Navigating Climate Risk, WEF and BCG, December 2024. 

Get moving now with Sapiologie:

• Create a comprehensive mapping of the impacts and risks of your offering

• Identify the portion of your revenue at risk

• Identify the most critical products and suppliers in terms of environmental impacts and exposure to risks

• Simulate the impacts of your decisions

• Design a sustainable and resilient company and value chain