Examples of Insights:

The examples below illustrate how the Irbaris team are able to develop unique and cutting-edge insights that bring tangible value to our clients:

E-Mobility & the Future of Transport

What we said?

In 2016, we concluded:

“Parity with Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) total cost of ownership has been achieved in a number of markets.  All major vehicle manufacturers are planning to bring EV models to market.

In addition, emerging markets may not follow ICE-led developed markets due to air quality concerns.”

What others were saying?

IEA Chief Economist, 2016: “Electric cars are roughly 10 years behind wind and solar in terms of deployment and technology development.”

The IEA also mentioned that “there have also been notable successes, which show an ‘emerging niche’ for electrification.”

What is happening today?

ICCT, 2019: Electric cars are already cheaper to own and run than petrol or diesel alternatives in five European countries.

The top six cities for EV penetration in 2018 were (in order of market size): Shanghai, Beijing, Los Angeles, Shenzen, Oslo, Hangzhou, San Francisco, Tianjin. Many of these cities also have air quality issues.

Climate Resilience

What we said?

For our briefing paper for senior management of an international bank in 2014:

“While many companies’ climate change strategy currently focuses on asset integrity (e.g., upgrading assets or repairing damage), the impacts will also affect revenues, costs of goods sold and operating expenses.

System-wide climate change impacts up and down a company’s whole value chain are arguably more important than physical impacts alone, especially as they interact with each other, compounding the effects.

Climate change is likely to exacerbate existing risks (affecting their impact and/or likelihood), to create new risks and to introduce unexpected or novel risks, as well as change long-term trends in weather events.

While many companies likely to be affected have some degree of risk management in place for mitigation, resilience planning or robust adaptation responses are not yet a mainstream consideration or practice.”

What others were saying?

The general consensus was that the physical impacts of climate change to their main facility or direct operations is a core focus for building resilience to climate change. 

An important part of a climate change strategy is asset integrity. This is important “to manage risks in a safe and cost-efficient manner”.  This also enables “companies to extend the asset lifetime, respond to increasing public awareness and demand for transparency, pressure from authorities, evaluation of incidents, compliance to regulations.”

What is happening today?

There is increasing awareness for a more comprehensive approach to understand climate resilience.

For example: “Investors are under-pricing the impact of climate-related risks, including more frequent and intense extreme weather events, and need to rethink their assessment of asset vulnerabilities.” (BlackRock Investment Institute, 2019)

Pollution Management

What we said?

Work for an international energy company:

Air pollution concerns are likely to affect the relative attractiveness of different energy technologies in a number of ways, including:

• Directly affecting the licence-to-operate of the technology in certain countries or locations

• Affecting market and consumer perceptions and choices

• Changing the relative costs due to the need for additional abatement measures, the imposition of direct penalty costs/fines or the availability of subsidies

The impact of air pollution constraints could have significant knock-on impacts on efforts to reduce GHG emissions, as well as on the attractiveness of GHG abatement technologies such as CCS

What others were saying?

Concerns about the human health impacts of air pollution, especially in urban areas are high in the political and regulatory agenda.  This is primarily due to (i) the dangerous levels of measured and visible air pollution observed in a number of major world cities (e.g., Beijing), (ii) increased understanding of the underlying health implications, and (iii) greater public awareness of the issues. 

In general, the mainstream focus was simply on emissions from road transport in urban areas and from the combustion of thermal coal.

What is happening today?

More and more progressive companies are engaging proactively with both permitting authorities, local stakeholders and others producing emissions (both point-source and non-point-source) within an airshed. This is in response to existing and emerging health and environmental issues.

Water

What we said?

Although the direct cost of water is small for most companies, the financial community is beginning to recognise that the potential impact of water issues is much greater.

Managing corporate water risk is more than just managing the risks at all the sites.  It includes being able to understand implications for supply chains, business planning, stakeholder engagement, etc.

One way to assess the value of water to the business is to consider the return on water use across business units.

What others were saying?

There are growing pressures on water resources in many parts of the world, due to both local and global factors. Two key areas of global environmental concern are increasing quantities of freshwater withdrawn and water quality issues.

Water issues are felt most acutely at the local scale. Major local users of water need to manage water risks and opportunities at each site for social, environmental, business reasons.

What is happening today?

The number of company facilities 'at risk' from water availability and quality has increased in the past 4 years. However, this has not translated into “companies lowering their water withdrawals in these hot spot areas.” (CDP, 2018)

Also, only 46% -62% of companies responding to CDP’s 2018 water questionnaires integrate water-related issues into financial planning.

What others were saying?

To make progress, companies need to conduct a significant amount of consultation among themselves.

This engagement can be used to form an evolving coalition.

This coalition could develop a program based on a shared vision and agreed targeted outputs

What is happening today?

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to have few inclusive agribusinesses working at scale.

Those that are successful have addressed the fragmentation across their value chains.

Instead of having a self-selected coalition, success stories are based around a company that chose the best partners to involve and integrates them into a bankable business.