Climate resilience at the heart of the value chain for large groups and SMEs.

From large groups to SMEs: resilience in the chain

In its latest article, Tardigrade AI highlighted the Corporate Resilience Survey 2025 from MSCI, which showed how much large companies have now integrated climate risk into their strategic and financial decisions: 76% of them have a formal framework for managing physical risk, and 61% even tie executive compensation to resilience performance.

Large groups are not resilient in isolation: their robustness depends on that of their value chain, starting with their suppliers and subcontractors.

However, at the heart of these global supply chains are thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), suppliers, subcontractors, distributors, whose solidity directly conditions the operational continuity of large contractors.

 These SMEs are the invisible yet essential links of global economic resilience. And as a report from UNDRR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) shows, they are also the most vulnerable to climate hazards and systemic crises.

 Strengthening their capacity to anticipate, adapt, and recover is to strengthen the resilience of the entire economic ecosystem.

Some figures to better understand the stakes 

• 90% of global companies are SMEs.

• They generate 50% of global GDP and two-thirds of jobs.

• 40 to 60% never reopen after a climate disaster.

• 27 days of average cash flow in case of shock.

• In developed countries, 38% would become illiquid in less than three months.

• Only 28% of SMEs report having a climate strategy.

• Strategies are often focused on post-crisis recovery, not on reducing vulnerabilities.

Diagnosing to act: understanding your exposure before the crisis 

Before even investing in adaptation solutions, SMEs must be able to accurately measure their climate and financial exposure. This is an essential step to anticipate potential losses, prioritize risks, and define the most effective actions.

With tools like those developed by Tardigrade AI, it is now possible to assess, at the site and peril scale, the expected annual losses (EAL), the Climate Value at Risk, and the cost of inaction. These hyper-granular diagnostics, updated with the latest climate data, allow for the identification of weak links worldwide, as the resilience of a company always depends on the most vulnerable site of its value chain.

By combining these analyses with Tardigrade AI's geolocated early warning system, companies can shift from a reactive logic to a proactive logic and initiate the establishment of solid business continuity plans (BCPs).

Five levers that make continuity plans a pillar of resilience

 Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) represent a fundamental lever of resilience. In a context of climate change where hazards become more frequent and intense, preparation is no longer an option; it is a decisive competitive advantage. According to UNDRR, business continuity plans often make the difference between companies that recover and those that do not.

1.       A concrete tool for preparation and decision-making

 A BCP defines the critical steps to maintain or resume activity after a disruption: risk assessment, prioritization of essential functions, role assignments, communication procedures, and simulations.
Companies with BCPs recover faster, limit losses, and demonstrate better operational agility in the face of crises.

2.       A low-cost prevention measure

Continuity plans are low-cost mitigation tools compared to the economic losses they help avoid. This is known as a “no regrets” measure: they are useful regardless of future scenarios, generate immediate benefits at low investment costs, and increase the company's solvency with its financial partners and insurers.

BCPs thus constitute an accessible response for SMEs that lack resources for more complex risk management approaches or post-disaster reconstruction.

3.       An operational foundation for resilience

Business continuity is the operational translation of resilience.
It gives concrete form to often abstract principles: reducing vulnerability, protecting employees and assets, ensuring recovery.
A well-designed BCP structures resilience and makes it measurable.

4.       A strategic and financial advantage

Companies with tested and updated BCPs gain in competitiveness and credibility. They minimize interruptions, retain their customers, protect their data, and secure their partners.
A solid BCP improves bankability and insurability: it reduces the perceived risk for financiers and insurers, favors more favorable conditions, and can even lead to lower premiums.

5.       A strong signal to stakeholders

Business partners, investors, and insurers see a BCP as a proof of proactivity and stability.
It is a signal of trust and seriousness that strengthens the company's position in global value chains.

Toward a collective mobilization for resilience

While the primary responsibility for preparation lies with SME leaders, resilience cannot be considered in isolation.

Large groups, financial institutions, and public authorities have a decisive role to play in disseminating tools, data, and preventive practices throughout the value chains.

Contractors can integrate criteria for climate and operational resilience into their supplier relationships, promote access to shared diagnostics, and support their partners in implementing continuity plans.

For their part, banks and insurers have every interest in encouraging prevention: a more resilient fabric of SMEs means a more stable economic system, better protected against systemic losses and supply chain disruptions.

In this context, Tardigrade AI acts as a technology facilitator: by combining climate data, artificial intelligence, and financial indicators, the platform allows every company, regardless of its size, to access a precise, updatable, and comparable exposure diagnosis.
This democratization of actionable climate information will make resilience accessible, measurable, and actionable for all.

Conclusion: resilience, a collective and profitable investment

Climate change threatens not only assets but also entire value chains.
The resilience of a company is not decreed; it is built, site by site, link by link, through a better understanding of its risks and concrete action plans to address them.

 Business continuity plans are currently one of the best no-regret investments an SME can make: low-cost, effective, and recognized by insurers and financiers, they constitute the first stone of a sustainable resilience strategy.

Prevention always costs less than repair, but it requires a shared vision of risk and tools capable of measuring it.

Thanks to the granular and financial analysis provided by Tardigrade AI, every company can now transform climate risk into a lever for decision-making, competitiveness, and trust.