By: Erika Gupta, Head of Sustainability, Siemens Financial Services

We stand at a pivotal moment. Climate change, loss of natural resources, supply chain disruption, increasing cyberattacks, the rapid growth of artificial intelligence deployment, and economic volatility are reshaping the landscape in which businesses operate in both the real and digital worlds. Yet within this challenge lies an opportunity: to build business resilience while enabling the transition to a sustainable economy.

What Does Resilience Really Mean?

Resilience is the ability to anticipate and adapt to disruption while maintaining essential functions. For businesses, this means:

  • Climate adaptation: Preparing for physical climate risks
  • Operational continuity: Building supply chains and infrastructure that can withstand disruption
  • Financial stability: Accessing capital that considers environmental risk and opportunities
  • Stakeholder trust: Demonstrating commitment to long-term growth

The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) understands that financial institutions have a critical role in channeling capital toward sustainable solutions. It has been clear on its goal to encourage financial institutions to put sustainability at the heart of their business strategy. Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires involvement from the private sector.

More Competitive, More Resilient and More Sustainable

At Siemens, we’ve always been driven by the strong business case for sustainability. Our view is that the business case for energy efficiency and decarbonization – especially when combined with operational resilience – just keeps getting stronger.

And, at Siemens Financial Services (SFS), resilience has always been a key driver of our business goals. We quantify exposure, assess probability, and calculate expected loss while also focusing on the opportunity to advance and compete. If we do nothing to adapt to market forces – none more obvious than the environmental challenges we face – we open ourselves up to threats to our existing business, and we prevent competitive progress.

Recent research from McKinsey & Company and Bain & Company reveal a compelling correlation between protection against natural hazards and increased business performance. Companies that successfully optimized their business by mitigating natural hazards and benchmarking emissions to compete in the global supply chain are seeing noteworthy results.

  • Companies that build profit, growth, and sustainability (such as energy efficiency, resource efficiency, and societal impact) into their business strategies are more than twice as likely to grow revenue by more than 10% in comparison to their peers who focused on profit and growth alone (Source)
  • The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that by 2030, the equivalent of 80 million full-time jobs, in sectors such as agriculture and construction, will be lost due to heat stress (Source)
  • According to Gallagher Re, $263 billion of disaster-related losses went uninsured in 2024, representing 63% of total economic losses from natural hazards such as hurricanes, wildfires (Source)
Grid Resilience: The Cost of Downtime

Perhaps most critically, our electrical system must resist, adapt to, and recover from extreme weather, cyberattacks, and equipment failures to prevent extended blackouts. As a result of increasing climate volatility, aging infrastructure, increasing sophistication of cyberattacks, and rising energy costs, ensuring operational continuity becomes more complex. Power outages and energy disruptions are costly for data centers, hospitals, manufacturing facilities, and cities. Over recent years, battery energy storage systems (BESS) have emerged as a transformative solution for these sectors. According to Bloomberg, batteries are getting cheaper. Energy storage costs declined 27% in 2025.

BESS accelerates grid resilience and addresses other energy infrastructure challenges presented from increases in:

  • Natural hazards: BESS strengthens grid reliability in regions facing capacity challenges
  • Digitalization: BESS meets the rapid growth of artificial intelligence deployment with dependable energy sources
  • Clean energy: BESS helps integrate renewable power sources economically
  • Energy insecurity: BESS provides grid stabilization by storing electricity when it is cheap and discharging it when prices increase

At SFS, we have a strong track record of being a trusted lender in BESS technology globally:

  • Across Europe, we enabled various BESS projects through strategic financing: In the UK, we served as Mandated Lead Arranger for three of Statera Energy‘s projects, including the Carrington Storage and Thurrock BESS. In Italy, we financed Aer Solair‘s Rondissone BESS project, which is currently the largest battery storage facility under construction in the country.
  • In Australia, we provided financing for Tag Energy‘s Golden Plains BESS project supporting a more sustainable and resilient grid.
  • In the United States, we provided project financing for five of Clēnera Energy’s BESS projects and seven landmark financings for Plus Power, providing reliable energy and advancing the energy transition.

With declining technology costs and growing grid reliability challenges, the business case for BESS is increasingly compelling.

Conclusion

Developing a resilience strategy is no longer optional, but critical in affording the financial and operational consequences of neglecting these material risks. The solutions exist. The capital is available. The technology is proven. In building resilience, businesses will not sacrifice profit; they’ll secure it.