Extreme weather could disrupt the supply of some of Breitling’s most critical materials, such as gold, lab-grown diamonds, and alligator leather.
This is just one of the many climate hazards considered in Breitling’s climate risk analysis, which makes supplier engagement key to its climate strategy and overall business resilience.
Breitling is a luxury watchmaker based in Switzerland, known for precision, innovation and style, with their timepieces enjoyed by aviation professionals, divers and watch enthusiasts around the world. Sustainability is a core pillar of the neo-luxury positioning of Breitling, and the brand is widely recognised for its leadership in this space.
I have worked closely with Breitling on several projects over the years, including climate risk analysis from 2023 to 2024. I really value the opportunity that comes with long-term client relationships to work collaboratively in partnership to deliver the best results.
Aurelia Figueroa, Chief Sustainability Officer at Breitling, says that she decided to work with me because “Hélène is a highly specialised, passionate and engaging expert on climate and nature” and “she delivers best-in-class assessments on which you can rely in taking business decisions. We appreciate how she quickly grasps what needs to be done and takes a pragmatic approach, often using public and open-source resources, to achieve the best results possible within the timeframe and budget.”
The Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations represent best practice for corporate reporting on climate risks and opportunities.
Note: The TCFD has since disbanded after fulfilling its remit, with its recommendations fully incorporated into the International Sustainability Standards Board and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (via ESRS E1).
The challenge and motivation
The Breitling leadership wanted to follow best practices on climate governance to align with their own values, meet the expectations of stakeholders, and inform business strategy.
Aurelia Figueroa says: “Climate risk analysis in line with TCFD helps us to guide informed business decisions, while accounting for climate factors and their impact on nature and business resilience.”
This analysis also helped inform Breitling’s climate reporting and the double materiality assessment required by the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). (As a non-listed company, Breitling is not subject to the Swiss Climate Ordinance, but this work would also comply with that regulation if required.)
The project
The main deliverables:
- A matrix of relevant climate risks and opportunities with a financial quantification for each, covering physical and transition risks in two different scenarios and timeframes
- Location-specific insights on exposure and severity, supported by a detailed Excel file of physical metrics and a risk map
- Development of a TCFD section of Breitling’s 2024 Sustainability Mission Report
- Providing guidance on climate governance and integration of climate risk into the overall Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) system
As there was already a climate risk section in Breitling’s previous sustainability reports, the first part of the project involved a gap analysis to compare this with the TCFD recommendations.
The next stage was to establish the ‘risk universe’ of relevant risks covering Breitling’s operations and key suppliers. This covered both physical risks from climate change, such as extreme weather and temperature rise, as well as transition risks from society’s response to climate change, such as regulations, market shifts, and technological change.
The material risks and business interruptions were scrutinised in multiple review rounds with relevant business functions, supporting a whole-of-house approach and ownership by subject matter experts. Following this engaged process, these were ultimately acknowledged and approved by the Breitling Board ESG Committee, including the CEO, participating board members and shareholder representatives. As well as incorporating their vital input, this served as a way to secure buy-in and raise awareness of climate risk at the leadership level.
The climate scenarios of 1.5°C and 4°C were chosen to illustrate the differences between a future where science-based targets and global action to limit climate change are successful and one where a global failure of action leads to dangerous climate breakdown. These represent the credible ‘best case’ and ‘worst case’ scenarios.
For physical climate risk, I conducted a detailed assessment of Breitling’s operations (including headquarters, subsidiary offices and the global boutique network) and key supplier sites worth nearly 90% of direct procurement spend. The suppliers included artisanal gold mines in Peru, lab-grown diamond manufacturers in India, farmed alligator leather in the US and Switzerland-based watch components suppliers — all critical to the manufacture of Breitling’s products.
Using Mitiga’s EarthScan™ tool, I derived location-specific insights on the exposure and vulnerability to physical climate risks. This covers both direct vulnerability, such as damage to assets, and indirect vulnerability, such as business interruption (revenue losses) and supply cost increases.
In climate risk analysis, exposure refers to whether you are susceptible to a particular climate hazard or not, and vulnerability refers to the extent you may be harmed, often expressed through financial impact.
The analysis found that for the 1.5°C scenario, Breitling is exposed to costs of approximately 40 million CHF per year from physical climate risks in both 2030 and 2050.
The financial quantification translates climate risks into the language of business, helping to raise awareness among leadership and build the internal business case for climate mitigation and resilience planning.
We also analysed transition risks, such as increased costs from carbon pricing and compliance with the EU Deforestation Directive, and opportunities, such as capitalising on consumer demand for sustainable products. For calculating the potential impact of carbon pricing, I used the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) prices and supplier pass-through assumptions.
Results and outcomes
The project resulted in a TCFD-aligned climate risk section in Breitling’s 2024 Sustainability Mission Report, which was also used to inform their double materiality assessment under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) of the European Union.
Most importantly, our collaboration supported key Breitling stakeholders in developing a deeper understanding of the company’s climate risk exposure and vulnerability, including which markets and supply chains are most at risk.
This supported the integration of climate into the company’s business strategy and enterprise risk management system, including incorporating climate and nature risks into business continuity plans. The results are also feeding into the early-stage development of a climate adaptation and resilience plan.