Identify your climate risks with PwC’s PULSE
Extreme weather drives major economic losses
Extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, storms and floods pose costly risks. They can disrupt your operations, damage your infrastructure and affect your supply chains. As the planet warms, these costs will rise, even with global efforts to reduce emissions.
For example, the August 2021 rainstorm in Gävleborg and Dalarna, Sweden, resulted in insurance claims exceeding SEK 1.6 billion (Svensk Försäkring). Globally, economic losses from natural catastrophes reached USD 280 billion in 2023 (Swiss Re Institute, sigma 1/2024).
As a company, it is more important than ever to identify and take control of these risks. Conducting a climate scenario analysis helps you gain a clear picture, so you can implement the right measures to safeguard your business.
Climate scenario analysis, powered by PULSE
PULSE, our Physical Risk and Loss Simulation Engine, models multiple climate pathways and delivers a complete scenario analysis of physical hazards, by quantifying the potential impact of extreme weather on your assets and operations. We can complement this with a transition risk assessment.
Four strenghts with PULSE
Cost-effective at scale: PULSE rapidly screens large, complex value chains across multiple countries at a fraction of traditional assessment costs.
Precise climate risk analysis: PULSE delivers exact risk values at asset level for different scenarios and time horizons.
- Strategic decision support: PULSE quantifies local financial effects of climate threats for well-founded adaptation decisions.
- Support for compliance and reporting: PULSE facilitates reporting and compliance in accordance with ESRS and the EU Taxonomy.
This is included in PULSE
- Geospatial risk analysis
- Scenario and horizon stress testing
- Reporting readiness
- EU Taxonomy alignment
- Expected financial impacts
Geospatial risk analysis
PULSE provides precise, asset-level hazard risk values worldwide by combining reliable meteorological datasets with high-resolution geospatial (GIS) analysis. Our location-specific methods deliver consistent, auditable estimates for individual sites and portfolios across all countries.
Scenario and horizon stress testing
PULSE evaluates multiple climate scenarios over short-, medium-, and long-term horizons to capture different warming pathways and stress-test exposure across assets.
Reporting readiness
PULSE’s output provides you with more than 100 disclosure requirements related to climate risks and scenario analysis required by the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS 2 and ESRS E1). It also supports companies’ CSRD double‑materiality assessments by informing with hard data whether climate adaptation qualifies as a material reporting topic.
EU Taxonomy alignment
Alignment screening under the EU Taxonomy requires a climate risk and vulnerability assessment (CRA) that uses state-of-the-art climate science and scenarios to evaluate acute and chronic hazards to business activities and value chains. PULSE delivers this end-to-end with asset-level, report-ready outputs (see EU Taxonomy Appendix A, a-b).
Expected financial impacts
PULSE converts climate hazard metrics into clear, asset-level cost estimates (USD/SEK) across scenarios and time horizons, using econometric methods calibrated to insurance claims and observed damage data. This enables targeted adaptation and investment decisions.
This is how we can help you
We offer two different kinds of assessments: executive geospatial assessment and an in-depth economic analysis.
Executive geospatial assessment
We collect your site coordinates and use high‑resolution GIS analysis to provide asset‑specific exposure to extreme heat, drought, wind, flooding and other physical climate hazards. PULSE projects changes under IPCC (RCP) and NGFS scenarios across short‑, medium‑ and long‑term horizons. The assessment meets CSRD/ESRS requirements for multiple scenarios and horizons and supports the EU Taxonomy vulnerability assessment.
Output example: Asset #215 | Stockholm R&D site | Office building | Own operations | 59.3327°N, 18.0656°E | +7.824% projected change in extreme rainfall | 2050 | RCP 8.5 climate scenario.
In-depth economic analysis
We translate meteorological and hazard metrics into financial impacts. Using insurance claims and observed loss data, we use regression analysis to estimate the relationship between local risk values and asset‑level damages, across climate scenarios and time horizons.
Output example: Asset #215 | Stockholm R&D site | Office building | Own operations | 59.3327°N, 18.0656°E | ≈ $2300 - $3500/year in extreme rainfall-related damages | 2050 | RCP 8.5 climate scenario.
Deliverables
The final report includes an executive summary, methodology, asset‑level climate risk values across scenarios and time horizons, and actionable recommendations. It features clear charts that show risk distributions, the highest‑risk assets, and portfolio hotspots. A GIS‑based PNG map pack is also provided, displaying asset locations over hazard layers.
The Excel file contains the full asset list with site coordinates and metadata, projected hazard values for each physical risk by scenario and time horizon, and charts that reflect the report’s findings. A data dictionary details all fields, units, and sources. If you pursue the economic analysis option, both the report and Excel file will also include asset‑level cost estimates, along with the corresponding methodology, charts, and maps.
Ongoing collaboration
We maintain ongoing discussions with you throughout the analysis to ensure alignment on key parameters, including which risks, time horizons and scenarios to use. Once the analysis is complete, we deliver the report and the underlying data. In a follow‑up meeting, we review the methodology, highlight key risks and adaptation opportunities, and discuss strategies to future-proof your operations and build a climate-resilient business.
Contact us today to find out more, see contact information below.
