Scientific Climate Ratings integrates ClimaTech, the EDHEC Climate Institute’s database of more than 100 adaptation and decarbonisation strategies, directly into its rating methodologies. Every measure is translated into an effect on net asset value (NAV) and into a change in the asset’s Climate Risk and Exposure Ratings (CRR & CER).

Why quantifying resilience and decarbonisation measures matters

Asset managers and owners already know that extreme weather and rising temperatures threaten their portfolios. Heatwaves, floods, and storms are disrupting day-to-day operations now, not at some distant horizon. But awareness of climate exposure is no longer the obstacle. The challenge is turning that awareness into action. To do so, stakeholders need to know which specific measure actually reduces risk for a given asset, and whether the reduction in expected loss justifies the capital needed to achieve it.
Being able to answer this question matters because climate risk is a financial and valuation issue. The only version of a resilience business case that an NAV model, lender, or rating committee can act on is one that expresses the benefit of action against the cost of inaction, in the same units the asset is already valued in.

The challenge: identifying risk and knowing how to address it

Several challenges stand between “we know we’re exposed” and “we know what to do about it, and why it’s worth it”:

• Exposure must be measured asset by asset. Portfolio averages and sector benchmarks cannot say which hazard threatens which asset, or how badly. Without that intelligence, owners fall back on generic measures with no guarantee of a material return.
• More protection is not necessarily better protection. Applying every relevant measure is not the answer. Each strategy guards against a specific hazard at a specific severity threshold, so stacking every available measure against one hazard burns capital without adding protection.
• The financial case is missing. Even once a measure is chosen, there is no consistent way to express its value in terms of how much expected NAV loss it removes, weighed against what it costs to install.

How Scientific Climate Ratings closes the gap

The ClimaTech database was developed by the EDHEC Climate Institute over years of applied research. It is the world’s largest repository of decarbonisation and resilience strategies for infrastructure assets, covering transition risks related to Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, and measures against floods, storms, extreme heat, and wildfires. Drawing on more than 200 academic papers, technical documents, and government reports, it compiles 103 company-specific strategies across 101 infrastructure subclasses, resulting in about 1,800 decarbonisation and resilience applications of these, all assessed (see more details here).
This database sits at the heart of Scientific Climate Ratings’ methodologies. Starting with the full database, we apply a structured filtering process to identify exactly which measures would benefit a given asset, and by how much. This allows us to produce asset-specific risk assessments that show the benefits of action expressed in the universal language of net asset value.

Leveraging ClimaTech to maximise ROI: a case study

We assessed the impact of several resilience measures at an Australian airport exposed to material flood and storm risk. Expected NAV loss is the share of an asset's value that climate hazards are projected to erode over a given period, so a fall in that figure is the financial benefit of the measures. Our filtering process identified four measures as most relevant for this asset: elevation, flood barriers, natural habitat restoration, and undergrounding of vulnerable infrastructure.

We then applied the ClimaTech effectiveness values to these measures, which found that:

• Expected NAV loss from flood risk over 2025 - 2050 fell by 94%, from 23.4% of NAV to 1.4%.
• Expected NAV loss from storm risk over the same period fell by 65%, from 5.3% of NAV to 1.9%.
• The overall Climate Risk Rating improved from D to A.

These insights are exactly what the airport's leadership needs: not confirmation that they are at risk, which is already evident day to day, but a specific answer on which measures to prioritise, and a number that justifies the cost.

From exposure to action

Climate resilience has historically been difficult to price and mitigate. Asset managers could point to sustainability reports and resilience initiatives, but there was no consistent way to translate these actions into financial justifications that were comparable across assets, sectors, and geographies. By embedding the ClimaTech database directly into the Climate Risk and Exposure Rating methodologies, we ensure that resilience is not treated as a separate qualitative overlay but as an integral part of how risk exposure and the associated financial impact are calculated. The result, as the airport example shows, is a rating that reflects genuine derisking opportunities, so that asset owners can justify the benefits of action against the cost of inaction.

To see how ClimaTech applies to your own assets, request a sample asset assessment from our team.