How much can you take?

Given recent events, energy firms need to fundamentally re-think how they estimate their risk tolerance. Maria Kielmas asks what has prompted this soul-searching

Of all risk management jargon the term ‘acceptable risk’ has been one that has always seemed self-explanatory. It is a phrase often used in finance, engineering, health and safety regulations and even personal behaviour to describe a threshold level of risk beyond which a company will not trade, an engineering design may not function or public or private safety cannot be guaranteed.

But the evolution of competitive energy markets and the upheavals over the past year due to corporate