Turning Climate Risk Visualization Challenges into Valuable Experience — Aspiring to Be a Partner in Thinking Together About the Future of Our Planet—

“Protecting the lives of seafarers.”

This phrase represents the very foundation of Weathernews and the guiding principle we've upheld since our founding. However, as climate change intensifies, we can no longer limit our focus to the oceans alone. Today, while staying true to our original mission, we're moving forward with a new vision: to protect the future of the Earth itself.

As part of this commitment, Weathernews established a dedicated department in 2021 to drive initiatives addressing environmental challenges—including climate change mitigation and adaptation—while advancing transparency through information disclosure.

In this article, we speak with Akifumi Kudo from the Sustainability Promotion Office about how Weathernews is tackling the global challenge of climate change and the concrete actions we're taking.

Contributing to a Sustainable Society Through Proprietary Weather Technologies — Addressing Both Mitigation and Adaptation —

Measures to address climate change can be broadly divided into two pillars. The first is mitigation, which aims to curb global warming by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Companies are expected to present concrete goals and actions in the form of “transition plans” that outline their pathway to a decarbonized society.

The second pillar is adaptation, which focuses on preparing for unavoidable changes in weather and climate to minimize damage. These efforts are expressed through "adaptation plans" designed to reduce climate-related risks while seizing new opportunities. In fact, Weathernews' services themselves are a form of corporate adaptation in action.

For nearly half a century since our founding, Weathernews has provided services that protect people's safety and social activities from weather-related disasters. In recent years, we've actively partnered with government agencies across Asia, sharing the climate adaptation expertise we've cultivated over decades to support local disaster prevention and mitigation efforts from multiple angles¹. What began as services for the maritime sector has now expanded to aviation and land-based operations, supporting decision-making for municipalities and businesses around the world.

In addition, our route optimization services for vessels help reduce fuel consumption, which in turn lowers CO₂ emissions—directly supporting corporate mitigation efforts as well.

We also develop and implement our own transition plan to reduce CO₂ emissions. By setting greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2030 and steadily advancing measures such as transitioning to renewable energy and reducing operational emissions, Weathernews has received validation from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)—an international climate initiative—confirming that our targets are scientifically grounded².:

Through our weather technologies, we support companies on both fronts: adaptation to prevent damage and mitigation to slow global warming.

Information Disclosure as a Process of Trial and Error — Visualizing Climate Risks and Opportunities from Scratch —

As a member of the Sustainability Promotion Office, I've worked to organize our internal initiatives and communicate them accurately to external stakeholders. This process, however, has been far from straightforward. Our information disclosure efforts began with identifying climate-related risks to Weathernews in accordance with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), an international disclosure framework. While the concept of "quantifying risks and calculating financial impacts" may sound simple, at the time there were few reference templates or standardized methodologies available, making it difficult to quantitatively assess physical risks. To address this challenge, we leveraged our experience in business impact analysis conducted during business continuity planning (BCP), combined with advanced climate projection data analyzed by a climate project team we established in 2020. Drawing on financial impact assessment approaches published by organizations such as Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, we quantitatively evaluated physical risks one by one.

Through this iterative process, we eventually achieved clear visibility into what kinds of weather risks each of our domestic business sites may face in the future and how those risks could impact our operations.

This experience went beyond mere compliance with disclosure requirements—it reaffirmed Weathernews' core strength: our ability to view climate change mitigation and adaptation as business opportunities.

CDP, an International Benchmark for Corporate Environmental Action — Drawing Responses from Over 22,000 Companies Worldwide —

Transparent information disclosure and the steady accumulation of concrete actions have earned us international recognition. One such recognition comes from CDP, an international non-profit organization that promotes environmental disclosure by companies and municipalities. CDP assesses the quality of corporate disclosures, companies' understanding of environmental risks, and the ambition and effectiveness of their targets and actions. In the 2025 survey, more than 22,100 companies worldwide—including over 3,000 from Japan—participated.

Among them, Weathernews was selected for the A List, the highest rating in the Climate Change category³. Our CDP score wasn't strong from the start. In fact, we once received a "D" rating. As a company driving climate-related business, we believed that building trust ourselves was essential. With that commitment in mind, we gradually improved the quality and depth of our disclosures.

Receiving an A rating from CDP is about more than achieving a high score. It signifies that a company openly discloses its activities with full transparency and that everyone—from top management to frontline employees—acts with a shared sense of responsibility toward the planet. In other words, it's recognition that we're firmly following a globally accepted roadmap for environmental action and are acknowledged as a leader on the world stage.

Aspiring to Be a Partner That Thinks and Acts Together — Toward a Climate-Resilient Society —

While we're honored to receive the highest rating in CDP's Climate Change category, this is by no means our final destination. Responding to the CDP questionnaire provides valuable opportunities to learn about world-class initiatives, and we're committed to continuously improving our efforts through ongoing disclosure.

Just as we once faced these challenges, many companies today are likely grappling with similar issues. Weathernews is more than a vendor that provides weather and climate data. Drawing on our own experiences of trial, error, and implementation, we aim to stand alongside our partners and collaborate on what needs to be done next in response to climate change—in both mitigation and adaptation.

"Protecting the future of the Earth."

For us, this ambitious vision makes addressing climate change an unavoidable mission. Together with our stakeholders, we'll continue to reduce environmental impact while contributing to a sustainable society.

Our journey to address climate change has only just begun.