A growing number of Canada's largest corporations are expressing concern about business risks from drought, flooding and other climate-related problems, according to a new report from the Carbon Disclosure Project.

In its annual survey of Canada's largest publicly traded companies, the project reported a 10 percent jump from a year ago in the number of businesses identifying potential "physical risks," such as changing precipitation patterns, to their operations.

In 2012, 67 companies reported concerns about those risks, up from 61 last year. There also was a 14 percent jump from a year ago in the number of companies reporting a "direct" impact from physical risks like extreme weather events.

"Extreme heat across Canada and the US, wildfires in the western provinces and tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico are recognized as weather crises with potential ramifications on global operations and supply chains," said the project, a nonprofit organization.

The project teamed with management consulting firm Accenture to compile the data and based its results on self-reported information from 107 of the largest publicly traded corporations in Canada by market capitalization.

While no one weather event can be tied to climate change, the project noted several statements received from participating companies about severe weather.

For example, ARC Resources Inc., a western Canadian oil and gas company, told the project that flooding in Saskatchewan in 2011 cost the company between $5 million and $10 million and led to upgrades of its water systems. Officials from Capital Power Corp. expressed concern about variances in future water flow that could affect hydroelectric facilities.

Floods, storms and regulations

Overall, the project found that Canadian companies are disclosing more information from a year ago to shareholders and to the public on climate change and are integrating the topic more into their business models.

In 2012, 77 percent of companies said they were integrating climate change into their business strategies, up 4 percent from 2011. There was a 27 percent increase in use of external publications, such as corporate annual reports, to express concerns about climate change or reveal greenhouse gas emissions performance.

Thirty percent more companies said that emissions reduction initiatives -- such as energy efficiency upgrades -- are a money-saving tool. Tim Hortons, a coffee restaurant chain, said its efficiency measures are expected to save $45,000 a year.

However, the project said that companies need to improve on controlling greenhouse gas emissions overall.

The project created a new index this year to assess how well companies actually cut emissions in one year and measured their emissions in their full supply chain. Only one company -- the Bank of Montreal -- scored high enough to receive an official ranking in the index.

Additionally, companies are citing more "regulatory" risks -- such as carbon taxes -- to their business operations than potential climate-related "physical" risks, such as floods.

Of the 496 total climate risks cited by companies, 238 involved concerns about regulations such as British Columbia's carbon tax, Quebec's linkage with California's cap-and-trade program and fuel and energy tariffs. An additional 93 involved "other" risks, such as concerns about a company's reputation.