Organisations are moving in the right direction on climate adaptation, assessing more perils and looking beyond their own assets to the wider systems they depend on, but 2026 presents an opportunity to close the gap between assessment and action, according to Amy Barnes, Head of Climate and Sustainability Strategy and Global Head of Energy & Power at Marsh.
Marsh’s 2026 Climate Adaptation Survey, which analyses responses from more than 120 organisations globally on how they are responding to evolving climate risks, found that organisations are broadening and strengthening their climate adaptation approach as their experience of extreme weather grows.
However, the firm says significant gaps remain in formal strategy, system-level resilience, and translating adaptation investment into insurance outcomes.
The research found that 43% of respondents have experienced losses and/or disruption from extreme weather in the past three years, with 60% reporting impacts from multiple perils.
Marsh explained that, compared to 2025’s results, flooding remained the leading peril (62%), while heat stress rose to second place (36%), ahead of water stress (34%) and tropical storms (25%).
As mentioned, the survey suggested that organisations are taking “practical steps”, particularly around business continuity and physical resilience.
Marsh found that more than half (54%) of respondents reported improving business continuity planning, while 40% reported investing in asset engineering such as flood defences.
However, only 26% said their adaptation measures had been recognised in insurance negotiations, and 62% of respondents expressed concern that insurance availability and/or cost for their assets would worsen over the next five years.
Meanwhile, among organisations conducting assessments, 87% considered multiple perils, reflecting the reality that climate impacts rarely occur in isolation.
Marsh’s survey also found that 77% of organisations assessing risk now combine qualitative and quantitative methods, up sharply from 52% in the 2025 research.
Organisations are also said to be looking beyond their own assets to the systems on which they depend when assessing risk: critical infrastructure climbed to third place in the 2026 assessment scope, up from fifth in 2025, while suppliers rose to fifth place, up from sixth.
Marsh added that, encouragingly, the 2026 results show assessment quality beginning to translate into action: the majority of organisations (78%) are now considering or developing adaptation strategies, and a quarter (26%) already have a formal plan in place. However, this leaves 22% of organisations without a known adaptation plan, suggesting that while progress is clear, there is still meaningful work to be done.
Amy Barnes commented, “The opportunity in 2026 is to close the gap between assessment and action by linking risk intelligence to business continuity, capital planning, operational decisions, and insurance strategy.”
“Organisations are clearly moving in the right direction: they are assessing more perils, using more quantitative analysis, and looking beyond their own assets to the systems on which they depend.
“The next step is to turn these insights into funded, measurable adaptation strategies – and to communicate the evidence clearly so resilience investment can support better risk and insurance outcomes.”
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