McKinsey’s Climate Change Special Initiative is a cross-functional and cross-sectoral effort, which brings insights, experience, and expertise from all parts of the firm to help advise the world’s leading institutions on the impacts of climate change. McKinsey is working to deepen the understanding of climate change; its implications for industries such as travel and logistics, biofuels, and financial services; and is also working on climate change strategies, low-carbon operations and growth markets, and risk management. To this end, McKinsey created the Social Sector Office (SSO) to ensure the best capabilities of McKinsey are available to help leading institutions address societal challenges. In order to further knowledge on climate change adaptation, McKinsey is undertaking studies on the economics of adaptation - the physical impact of climate change on the social and economic well being of societies around the world - through a partnership between the firm’s Climate Change Special Initiative and the Social Sector Office. Efforts are focused on providing pragmatic fact-based information to decision makers by assessing the impacts of climate change as well as a range of adaptation measures including risk avoidance, risk reduction, and risk transfer. Efforts in this area are emerging as McKinsey is collaborating with lead international organizations such as the UNFCCC.