What are Spanish companies afraid of? Natural disasters sneak into the business agenda after the damage

The damage of last October has had a logical impact on Spanish companies, which have reconfigured their list of concerns in the last months of 2024: at the top of business fears are, at the same level (48%), natural disasters, fires and explosions; followed closely by the supply chain disruptionwhich primarily worries 31% of those surveyed. They do so ahead of traditional fears such as theft or fraud (which now mostly worry 8%), or more typical of technological advances, such as cyber incidents (31%). Los legislative changes and business regulation, an aspect that requires firms to be on the agenda (and that encompasses aspects of sustainability or new regulations), are relegated to a discreet fifth position (18%).

This is reflected in the Allianz Commercial Annual Risk Barometer, subsidiary of the insurance group, which based on the evaluations of 89 agents in the insurance sector between October and November 2024, delegates aspects such as the climate change (16%), the evolution of the economy (12%), los political risks and violence (11%), the energy crisis (9%) and, lastly, the theft or fraud (8%).

The firm highlights that this is the first edition that factors such as climate accidents appear on the agenda of fears of Spanish companies. Compared to 2023, it is not that the number of concerned companies has increased (in 2023 it was also a cause of concern for 48% of companies), but that it has remained the same in the face of other decreases in priorities: cyberattacks are no longer as worrying (which drops two positions) or disruptions in the supply chain (from first position in 2023 to third in 2024). In any case, the alteration of the order of priorities is coherent if the recent weather emergencies are observed, such as the floods in the countryside or the damages of the last months of 2024.

Regarding climate change, companies are not concerned about the effect it may have on their economic activity but rather the policies that the situation entails: Allianz experts point out to EL MUNDO the headache that it is for companies to update their climate change strategies. sustainability, such as those that involve reducing the carbon footprint.

The question of priorities is also one of size, because depending on the volume of the company and its level of billing, The insurance firm’s study shows that for 43% of large companies, natural disasters are their main concern, followed by interruption in the supply chain (40%) and fire or explosions (40%).

The order is altered for the SMEs, because in both cases (small and medium-sized companies) and despite a slight variation, their list of concerns places incidents associated with fires and explosions in first place; and secondly, natural disasters. Third, responses from medium-sized companies point to supply chain disruptions as their main fear. Meanwhile, microbusinesses share their fears: at a fair value of 20%, supply chain disruption has the same weight as cyberattacks, violence and political instability, and theft and corruption.

At the global level

The barometer, which collects the evaluations of 3,778 agents in the insurance sector in 104 countries and 24 sectorshighlights two aspects: on the one hand, that the greatest global fear of companies is cyber attacks. An aspect that should not be surprising, given the calendar of incidents of this type, was 2024, highlighting the caso CrowdStrike in summer, and the great current technological interdependence, which place it as the great global concern for the fourth consecutive year.

On the other hand, the climate component stands out: natural disasters are placed in third place, a legacy, as the study itself mentions, of a year of major atmospheric accidents. And this leads to climate change also taking center stage in this edition, with the highest position since the study began 14 years ago and being the greatest rise within it.

Again, as in the last edition, business interruption is the second concern for companies of all sizes. Situations such as the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, which involve commercial routes, cause economic damages and a slowdown in activity that has businesses around the world on alert.

The experts in the study point out the impact of a great election year, the increase in geopolitical tensions and the threat of trade wars as the reason why changes in legislation and regulations rank fourth in the top five fears of companies.

If we look at the development framework of the commercial activity, priorities also vary. In sectors such as financialfor the first time they include the damage of climate change in the face of cyberattacks among the top five concerns. But in other sectors, such as aviation and defense Other new fears must be added such as shortage of qualified labor.

In the case of tourism sectorand confinement that stops activity It is a new priority fear, while the automotive sector is now also concerned about market flows in terms of competition; fear shared with industry retail. The oil industry, Compared to 2023, it is now more afraid of regulatory and legislative changes.