Climate and ESG risk does not sit evenly across the economy
Each industry is impacted differently and unevenly. Understanding climate risk requires context that reflects how your industry actually operates.
Climate and ESG risk is now embedded in how organisations are expected to operate, report and make decisions. Frameworks such as AASB S2 formalise the requirement for organisations to identify, assess and disclose climate-related risks and opportunities.
However, while the reporting framework is consistent, the location and nature of risk is not:
- A bank does not face climate risk in the same way as a logistics provider
- An insurer does not assess exposure in the same way as a manufacturer
- A telecommunications network has fundamentally different vulnerabilities to a construction firm
Organisations must understand climate and ESG risk in the context of how their industry actually operates.
From Framework to Reality
Regulatory frameworks define what must be disclosed. They do not define how organisations should identify risk within their own operating model.
In practice, climate and ESG risk manifests across several dimensions:
Portfolios
Lending books, insurance portfolios, customer bases
Supply chains
Upstream and downstream dependencies
Physical infrastructure
Assets, facilities, networks, locations
Sector exposure
Industries sensitive to transition risk
Geographic concentration
Clusters of risk across regions
Each industry has a different combination of these. The challenge is not simply identifying risk - it is identifying where it sits, how it accumulates, and how it affects decision-making.
The Structural Gap
Most organisations are not starting from a blank page. They already hold large volumes of data across customers, suppliers, assets, operations, contracts and transactions.
But this data is rarely structured in a way that allows climate and ESG exposure to be assessed consistently. This leads to several issues:
- Climate risk is assessed in isolation rather than across the full operating model
- Different teams use different datasets and assumptions
- Exposure is analysed at a high level rather than at entity level
- Risk concentration is not visible until it becomes material
- Reporting is reactive rather than repeatable
How The NCED Supports Industry-Level Analysis
The NCED provides a consistent, entity-level dataset that can be applied across industries, while still reflecting their specific needs. It enables organisations to:
- Connect climate and ESG indicators to customers, suppliers and assets
- Analyse exposure across portfolios, supply chains and infrastructure
- Identify geographic and sector concentration
- Assess both physical and transition risk
- Produce repeatable, auditable outputs
Importantly, it allows different industries to use the same underlying dataset in different ways - while maintaining consistency across reporting and analysis.
Industry Coverage
NCED supports organisations operating across a range of sectors where climate and ESG risk is material.
Banking & Finance
Understanding exposure across lending, investment and customer portfolios.
Insurance & Re-Insurance
Managing underwriting risk, aggregation and exposure to physical hazards.
Logistics
Assessing risk across routes, hubs, suppliers and operational networks.
Telecommunications
Protecting infrastructure and maintaining service continuity.
Construction
Managing site-level exposure, supplier risk and project disruption.
Manufacturing
Understanding risk across operations, inputs, energy usage and supply chains.
Understanding climate and ESG risk at an industry level is no longer optional
It is a prerequisite for credible reporting, effective risk management, operational resilience, and informed decision-making. The NCED enables organisations to move from generalised ESG awareness to industry-specific, data-led insight.