Shiran Moodley

Climate Solutions and Sales Lead – Middle East and South Asia, Moody’s Analytics

Shiran Moodley leads Climate Solutions and Sales for the Middle East and South Asia at Moody's Analytics. His work focuses on climate risk, sustainable finance, financed emissions, and the evolving global regulatory landscape around sustainability and climate. 

Shiran works closely with financial institutions and corporates to design and implement sustainability and climate risk solutions, supporting areas such as lending, climate disclosures, risk identification and quantification, as well as the integration of climate considerations into risk management frameworks. 

Prior to joining Moody’s, Shiran led Sustainable Finance teams for HSBC in Dubai and Absa in South Africa covering lending, bonds and trade finance products across their respective regions. Shiran holds an honors degree in Actuarial Science from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

1.How are organizations globally assessing and quantifying climate-related physical and transition risks?

While approaches for assessing climate-related risks vary by region, sector and even individual organizations, there is increasingly convergence towards standardized globally aligned standards and regulations. Standards such International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) or Taskforce for Nature Related Disclosures (TNFD) are driving greater consistency in how climate risk is identified, measured and disclosed. Leading practices typically include:

  • Physical risk assessment: understanding the vulnerability and expected financial loss due to physical risk perils

  • Transition Risk Assessments: evaluating carbon footprint across direct and third-party(suppliers)

  • Supply Chain Assessment: understanding both physical and transition risk impact to mitigate concentration or operational risk

  • Climate-Adjusted Financials: utilizing climate scenarios and stress-testing into capital planning to ensure your business is adequately capitalized

2.How can climate risk management be embedded into governance, enterprise risk management (ERM), and long-term strategic planning?

In leading organizations, climate risk is no longer siloed and sits as a principal risk alongside credit, market or operational risk disciplines. This means that climate risk should explicitly be referenced across aspects within the overall risk management such as board oversight, defined roles and responsibilities, and adequate governance.

Additionally, there should be a direct link to strategic intent and ambition which would be reflected though measurable levers such as key performance indicators (KPIs), risk appetite, and capital allocation decisions. Embedding climate within the risk management framework signals a shift from compliance-driven output to a strategic enabler.

3. What role do data, scenario analysis, and climate modelling play in strengthening organizational resilience?

Data and modelling are critical foundational pillars to credible resilience planning, since they underpin the insights and inform strategic and investment decisions. Scenario analysis enables organizations to evaluate short-term and long-term horizons under different climate pathways in which the outcomes also intersect with credit risk and macroeconomic forecasting. 

While climate modelling can be highly complex and data availability can vary by region, the ability to quantify potential financial impact is valuable for organizational resilience and is increasingly expected by regulators, investors and rating agencies. 

4. How can companies and cities in the UAE and GCC integrate climate risk into infrastructure, real estate, and urban development planning?

Effective adaptation begins with an understanding of which physical risk hazard (e.g. flood, sea-level rise) poses the greatest risk in terms of financial and operational exposure. For the UAE/GCC region, particular attention is required for risks that pose greatest risk such as material resilience in chronic extreme heat conditions, coastal infrastructure exposures and energy-water nexus vulnerabilities.

Adaptation strategies typically include engineered defenses, resilient construction materials, asset elevation, forward-looking zoning and site planning. Climate risk assessment is increasingly being embedded into early-stage planning, financing decisions and large-scale infrastructure developments, shifting resilience from reactive to proactive.