Climate Change Vulnerability Analysis of Companies and Sectors for 2030: Conceptual Frame of Reference and Empirical Findings

German companies are already affected by climate change and extreme weather events, but they will have to adapt to the impact of climate change to an even greater degree in the future. They expect the direct and/or indirect impact of the climate change phenomenon to increase through 2030, and in a negative way. These are the findings of a national corporate survey conducted by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW), which is presented by Mahammad Mahammadzadeh, IW, in this article. Whether and to what extent these negative effects make, or could make the companies in question vulnerable depends largely on their ability to adjust their financial, personnel, technological, infrastructural, institutional and knowledge-based resources and competences, as well as the adjustment measures that they have already put in place or plan to implement to reduce the negative impact of climate change. According to the survey results, every two in three German companies needs to implement adjustment measures that cover their operational infrastructure and insurance against climate change and extreme weather conditions as well as early warning and information systems, climate consulting and climate risk management.