No one really likes to stick their necks out in the near certainty that there is a baying crowd out there with sharp knives at the ready.

Kingfisher chief executive Sir Ian Cheshire rammed this message home when he spoke to me last week, bemoaning the fact that so few bosses dare speaking out. But despite the entrenched conservative views of many executives, I wonder whether we are seeing a tipping point on the issue of climate change, which will encourage many more to stand up and be counted.

There are two reasons for this. One is that the recent extreme weather in countries such as the US and UK means climate change has rapidly moved from being a concept to a stark reality. Business does not particularly like intellectualising, but now that companies are starting to recognise the current and growing set of risks and opportunities action is much more likely to follow.

The political climate is also beginning to fundamentally shift, with politicians on both sides of the Atlantic starting to become more strident when talking about threats and opportunities. This should mean that all those cautious government affairs experts within companies will see a lessening in the perceived risks from going public.

Last week, UK energy secretary Ed Davy warned that Britain's climate change policy is under threat from a "diabolical cocktail" of nimbyism, denial of science and fear of Europe from politicians on the right. This weekend, both Labour leader Ed Miliband and US secretary of state John Kerry spoke of the acute dangers humanity faces.

Miliband said Britain is "sleepwalking to a crisis" because politicians are failing to recognise that climate change is causing the UK's extreme weather, while Kerry called on all nations to respond to "the greatest challenge of our generation", warning that "we should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists and science, and extreme ideologues to compete with scientific fact".

Oliver Dudok Van Heel, director of Aldersgate Group, a UK alliance of sustainability leaders from business, politics and society, said that with the political sands shifting, there is a real opportunity for companies to respond more proactively.

Pointing to estimates of a £14bn hit to the UK economy from the recent flooding, he said: "What I am hoping for is a reversal of the post Copenhagen gloom, which led to a lack of political and business leadership. The floods are the evidence we need that the problems we face are current and real and will get worse and worse.

"For Kerry to come out like this is quite something and a sign that the climate debate is shifting. Business has to choose its battles and for many there has been no point making strong climate change arguments when there is no political will. But now is the time for business to make a strong statement."

If business leaders do join together and raise their combined voice, there is also the opportunity to create a virtuous circle, because it will then give progressive politicians more air cover to take the next step in forcing through regulatory changes.

Anne Kelly, director of public policy at Ceres, a coalition of investors, environmental organisations and other public interest groups, said recently that by "standing up and talking, it would help to move policy forward and create a safe space for others, as there is safety in numbers. It would give more political cover for policymakers as they need the support of the business community, and that has got to be seen to be real."

The extreme weather is helping companies to visualise risks and understand costs, says Thomas Lingard, global advocacy director at Unilever, but there's no certainty business will start to speak out on climate change. "We know we can be really good at ignoring evidence that does not support our worldview," he added, if you are waistdeep in water it's difficult not to confront reality."

We should never underestimate the drag of the status quo that slows down the pace of change and keeps people's heads firmly below the parapet. This was illustrated recently at a meeting of a number of company chairmen who were invited to a private discussion about sustainability. The group of graying men were not so keen to think about change but spent the time complaining that business was not more appreciated in terms of the good it does to society, such as job creation, tax income and the creation of products and services.

In other words, they remain locked into what they see as their glory days and utterly unable to appreciate the new environmental and social challenges which will sweep them away unless they wake up and realise the world has fundamentally changed.

Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox