Canadian Businesses Ramping Up Climate Plans, Turning to AI

Canadian business leaders are increasingly serious about climate risk, according to a fresh BMO Climate Institute Business Leaders Survey that found 78 per cent of surveyed leaders reported their companies either already had or were actively developing climate plans—a significant jump from two-thirds of organizations just a year prior.

More than 90 per cent of respondents expressed confidence that these strategies were actually improving business outcomes, especially at a time when extreme and unpredictable weather has become a leading climate-related business risk. The shift suggests companies are moving past climate pledges as public relations and treating climate resilience as legitimate risk management.

Notably, many of these emerging climate plans are leveraging AI tools to model scenarios, predict supply chain disruptions, and plan capital allocation around climate variables. It's corporate risk management catching up to reality—if your supply chains can be disrupted by floods or heat waves, you need computational power to run scenarios and prepare.

For Toronto's economy, this trend suggests companies operating from the city are increasingly climate-aware, which could drive innovation in green infrastructure and climate-resilient business models. It's not altruism; it's self-preservation.