Climate Risk and Adaptation
Foundations.

Climate change affects the assets organisations manage, the services they provide and the decisions they make about their future. Responding requires an understanding of the risks, the available adaptation options and the consequences of acting at different times.

This course connects climate science with the practical responsibilities of government and business. You will explore how climate information informs planning, operations, investment and governance, and how to develop adaptation responses suited to your organisation.

For businesses, this includes understanding the climate risks and opportunities that matter financially, assessing organisational resilience and developing the evidence needed for corporate reporting. For government, it includes decisions about public assets, services, communities and long-term investment.

You will also be introduced to how artificial intelligence and machine learning can support climate-risk and adaptation work, with practical examples and guidance on evaluating their outputs.

Across three days, you will build a common foundation, examine real adaptation decisions in the field and apply what you learn to a case relevant to your work.

The course is designed for professionals whose work involves decisions affected by climate risk, including:

• Local and state government: staff working in climate adaptation, planning, infrastructure, asset management, sustainability and community resilience.
• Infrastructure owners and utilities: professionals responsible for assets, networks, service continuity and long-term investment.
• Corporate risk, sustainability, finance and governance teams: people preparing for climate-related financial reporting, supporting board oversight or integrating climate risk into business strategy.
• Business operations, asset and supply-chain teams: professionals assessing impacts on facilities, suppliers, customers, business continuity and capital expenditure.
• Consultants and advisers: engineering, environmental, climate and risk practitioners supporting clients with assessment, adaptation and reporting.
• Researchers and specialists: people connecting climate knowledge with policy, planning and implementation.

Participants share a common framework while exploring the different responsibilities, priorities and constraints of their organisations. The course is accessible to professionals without a specialist climate or AI background.

By the end of the course, you will be better able to:

1. Interpret climate information, projections and scenarios, including their uncertainties and limitations.
2. Identify climate hazards, exposure and vulnerability across assets, services, communities, operations and value chains.
3. Assess consequences, including compound and cascading impacts, and explain their organisational and financial significance.
4. Understand how scenario analysis helps assess resilience and inform adaptation choices.
5. Develop and compare adaptation options, considering trade-offs, co-benefits and implementation constraints.
6. Understand adaptation pathways, including how options can be sequenced and reviewed as conditions change.
7. Connect climate-risk assessment with governance, investment, corporate reporting, metrics and monitoring.
8. Recognise practical applications of AI and machine learning, and assess the evidence, limitations and human review they require.
9. Communicate a climate-risk problem, potential responses and a practical next step.

During the course, you will develop a working Climate Risk and Adaptation Decision Brief to organise your thinking around a real case. The brief brings together:

• The problem, system and decision.
• Priority hazards, exposure and vulnerability.
• Consequences and why they matter.
• Financial or service implications, where relevant.
• Potential adaptation options and key trade-offs.
• An indicative pathway or next decision.
• Responsibilities, evidence gaps and monitoring needs.
• A practical next action.

Corporate participants can use the brief to identify information needed for internal risk management, investment discussions and climate reporting. Government participants can use it to support planning, asset management and adaptation discussions.

You will also take back course materials, a framework for discussing climate risk across professional disciplines, an understanding of where AI may assist your work, and a Certificate of Completion with a permanent verification link.

The brief is a starting point for further work and discussion within your organisation.

• Dr Marcello Sano

  Founder and instructor, Apter

  Marcello is an environmental scientist with around 20 years of experience across climate risk, coastal systems, hazards and adaptation. His work spans research, government and international practice, with a focus on connecting evidence with practical decisions. He also works on applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning to climate-risk assessment and decision support.

  LinkedIn

Additional contributors will be announced as confirmed.