Willis Towers Watson buys climate change consultancy Acclimatise
Willis Towers Watson has acquired Acclimatise, a boutique climate change advisory and analytics services firm, in a move that adds around 35 consultants to its teams in the United Kingdom, France, the US and India.
Founded in 2004, Acclimatise helps clients address the challenges of climate change and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Since inception, the firm has completed over four hundred and fifty climate adaptation consulting projects, at client in financial services, natural resources, development institutions and governments worldwide.
Acclimatise also has a platform that assimilates and applies climate model and earth observation data to support risk analytics and forecasting. “Our software gives clients the ability to assess their material climate risks and vulnerabilities in the most robust and effective way possible,” explained John Firth and Richenda Connell, the co-founders of the sustainability consultancy.
Facing a need to develop and deliver “increasingly sophisticated approaches to climate risk assessment and management,” as well as “growing client demand in the wake of more and more focus on climate change risk”, it was now the ideal moment to join Willis Towers Watson, said Firth.
“We are hugely excited by the potential that Willis Towers Watson's acquisition of Acclimatise brings, and are confident that combining with the Climate and Resilience Hub is the right move to ensure we can amplify the impact of our work.”
The Climate and Resilience Hub is Willis Towers Watson's centre of excellence for climate expertise and capabilities, pooling knowledge from across the firm’s consulting, risk, transactions and capital businesses. “This addition brings a wealth of complementary experience,” said Rowan Douglas, Head of Willis Towers Watson’s Climate and Resilience Hub.
He added, “By combining Acclimatise’s climate modelling and adaptation capabilities with Willis Towers Watsons’s deep experience in natural catastrophe modelling, risk management, re/insurance and investment markets we have a unique range of expertise to help clients manage climate exposures, seize adaptation opportunities and build more resilient societies and economies.”
The deal comes eight months after Willis Towers Watson itself was acquired by Aon. The two professional services giants are expected to close the transaction in the first half of 2021.
