6 Virtual Brochure – March 2025 Climate change and environmental sustainability Risks around climate change and environmental sustainability continue to edge up the ranking of strategic concerns year-on-year. Businesses highlight growing risks to their buildings, infrastructure and suppliers. This is prompting greater demand for weather modelling data to forecast likely impacts and develop contingency plans. We encourage institutions to ensure that climate risks are appropriately reflected in strategic planning, risk management and contingency planning. Institutions should also seek assurance on the adequacy and coverage of metrics chosen to quantify risks and assess the effectiveness of mitigating actions. The final section of our briefing analyses European businesses’ views about where internal audit effort is invested compared to strategic risk priorities. The picture here is similar to last year with a strong assurance focus on cybersecurity, compliance with changing laws and regulations (particularly EU legislation on sustainability reporting and cybersecurity), and business continuity management. Uniac’s analysis of its programme of activity across the ECIIA risk themes shows notable increases in assurance effort in HE around cyber and data security and human capital risks. Uniac offers comprehensive audit and assurance services on all elements of risk covered in this briefing as well addressing the specific needs and risk profiles of HE institutions. If you would like further information on how we can help your institution with internal audit and assurance services, please get in touch. Helen Thorne Senior Audit and Assurance Consultant Email: hthorme@uniac.co.uk www.uniac.co.uk
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