At the start of this week, the UN published a rather damning report about the world’s climate. It warns that without immediate and massive action, the world is going to suffer from more and more extreme weather events. Events that are going to cause mass damage to the planet, and worse, death. And these effects are not limited to outside these shores. Their report warned that Britain faced wetter winters, hotter and drier summers, massive food prices, poverty, drought and subsequently, death. It might sound a bit dramatic, but you have to take their word for it.

It’s time we all faced facts: the climate is changing. The cause of that change however is debatable for some, with many still on the side of man-made causes. But the cause is becoming less and less of an issue now because quite frankly there is absolutely nothing we can do at this point. The climate is changing, I believe it has gone past a point of no return and there’s nothing humanity can do to reverse it. But all is not lost, despite the dramatic reports.

The world needs to change it’s stance from climate change prevention, to climate change adaptation. We need to accept that our world is going to change, and how we live and work needs to change with it. All the things our Governments are doing now should remain I believe. There is nothing wrong in trying to make everything we do more efficient – so long as we don’t believe that these efforts will reverse climate change, as it won’t. But our greener efforts now must become part of a wider new policy in which Governments, including our own, help to adapt our countries to cope better with more extreme weather.

As we all know, Britain took an unprecedented battering this winter, with storm after storm causing vast damage and destruction to pretty much the southern half of the UK. In fact in places, there was 9 years worth of coastal erosion in just 3 months! Something never seen before and solid proof that our weather events are becoming more extreme and more frequent. The power of nature is something we cannot stop – we would be foolish to think that. But what we can do is adapt around our changing environment and build better.

We need to build smarter and for the long term. We need to stop building in flood plains – they’re called flood plains for a reason! We have to build both our commercial and residential buildings to a greater standard. This includes our very own offerings of windows and doors. Quality has to come first. No more skimping and cutting corners. Our windows have to get stronger, even more energy efficient and far more weather resistant. On top of that, the fabric of the building those windows and doors are going into needs to match that durability. No more throwing up cheaply built houses. They won’t cope with a more extreme climate. Lets get our heads back on straight and build things to last. We’re going to have to if the UN report is to be believed!

The key message here is that our attention needs to shift. We need to focus on adapting to our new climate, rather than thinking we can reverse what is happening. If drought, unaffordable food, starvation and climactic extremes are the consequences of inaction, then time is really of the essence here.

There is a business advantage to all of this, and one specific to our own industry. Let imagine for a moment that the Government does actually change policy and starts to mass-adapt our infrastructure and economy to cope with a more extreme climate. This is going to require a raft of new or improved products to help meet this newly created demand. The UK glass industry should be starting to invest their time and money into producing these higher standards of products. Nothing helps boost business like mass infrastructure investment.

However in all seriousness, no matter how much this subject might bore you or completely turn you off from reading any more of this, our world is changing and it is going to affect every single one of us in at least one profound way. It’s time we all took this as seriously as it is, and adapt now, to cope with changes in the future.