You can take the blue pill and continue your activities as if nothing has changed. "Business as usual" – the most classic, reassuring behavior, typical of many institutions, public or private, as well as individuals, who are conservative by nature. Even though it is likely, since you are reading us, that you are less so than others.
Or take the red pill, follow the white rabbit, and begin your journey into the matrix! The matrix of tomorrow's world, of the environmental and economic transition, which is not the result of a choice but a necessity. And as Georges Clemenceau said, "When events overwhelm us, let us pretend to be their organizers." It's more rewarding and, above all, more useful if you manage a profit or cost center and intend to turn ongoing changes into opportunities to become – or remain – a leader in your sector, ahead of the followers of "business as usual."
Since the @Varin report and the work of the European Commission, we know better than ever that resources are scarce and that, by definition, this will not improve. Water, sand, rare earths, biomass, planetary boundaries, and competition for uses mean there will not be enough for everyone, especially if they are misused. Therefore, we must prepare and adapt to a world where "environmental risk" and more specifically "resource risk" will impose itself on everyone. China has understood this well and has a head start. The United States as well, and is putting resources into it. Europe too, in its more disjointed way. But above all, each and every one of us will need to integrate it, starting with you: business leaders.
But where to start? At the beginning! That is, understanding who you are and where you stand, where your company stands, in adapting to the ongoing transition. And for that, you need to look at all your value chains and the resulting risks. In other words, create your vulnerability matrix, ensuring that the environment and resources take their full place. Your compass for a rapidly changing world.
Many companies have long been accustomed to financial risk matrices, or even country risk, not to mention health or regulatory risks. Fewer companies have integrated resources into their thinking. Yet "resource risk," in addition to its own characteristics (scarcity, availability), is now often at the heart of all the others!
By its very nature, the resource induces regulatory risks ("Green Deal" and other national variations), financial risks (due to the erratic evolution of raw material prices), health risks (think of pesticides, PFAS, …), geopolitical risks (the world's largest exporter of cobalt is the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been at war for thirty years), reputational risks (greenwashing, as we know), and market risks (informed consumers).
A vulnerability matrix must today include a comprehensive environmental chapter and an extensive resource section. To be operational, this matrix must allow each of the incurred risks to be objectified, characterized, and assigned a probability, along with a quantification of the consequences. In short, to enable prioritization. At (RE)SET, we do that
To return to the movie Matrix, "Do not try to bend the spoon, that's impossible (…). The spoon does not exist (…). The only thing that bends is not the spoon, but only your mind." Since we cannot make the environment docile and resources unlimited, let us bend our minds to create complete vulnerability matrices, compasses that always point in a single direction, the right one: that of the transition!
Géraldine Poivert
