Among the 320 risk managers questioned for the global survey, the majority say that they are increasing the attention and resources that they dedicate to environmental risk management. However, the findings also indicate that many companies are still at the early stage of this process and rarely consider environmental risk management formally when undertaking major strategic activities.

The findings show that to date, this category of risk has tended to be managed either as an ad hoc activity or separate from the overall risk management framework.

Karl Russek, Senior Vice President for ACE Environmental Risk, comments: "When companies are planning major strategic activities, the consideration of environmental risk remains the exception rather than the rule. Fewer than half of the respondents to the EIU survey say that they undertake a formal assessment of environmental risk when developing new products and services, and fewer than one in five when planning mergers and acquisitions."

"Environmental risk management is rising on the corporate agenda, but many companies are in the early stages of addressing this issue," says Rob Mitchell, editor of the report. "While there are some companies that take environmental risk very seriously and have developed robust processes to identify, assess and mitigate their exposure, others continue to manage environmental risks in an ad hoc way, and do not consider them when planning major strategic activities, such as mergers and acquisitions."

Concludes Russek: "Based on our experience with organisations of all sizes, as the degree of environmental regulation and scrutiny increases for across the globe, companies and risk managers would be well served to remain proactive on this issue."