Climate Vulnerability Status (PI1002)

Describes the degree to which natural, built, or human systems are at risk of exposure to climate change impacts.

Choose all that apply:

Organizations should footnote all assumptions used.

This metric is intended to describe the climate vulnerability status of natural, built and human systems.

The US Climate Resilience Toolkit provides guidance for vulnerability assessment, categorized into High, Medium and Low levels of vulnerability.
The US Climate Resilience Toolkit provides guidance for vulnerability assessment, categorized into High, Medium and Low levels of vulnerability.
Vulnerability is defined by the IPCC as the combination of sensitivity to climatic variations, the probability of adverse climate change, and adaptive capacity. For each of these components of vulnerability, formal indices can be constructed and combined. Methods of aggregating across sectors and scales have been developed in other contexts (e.g., the Human Development Index) and are beginning to be applied to climate change. However, substantial methodological challenges remain — in particular estimating the risk of adverse climate change impact.
In determining vulnerability of communities or infrastructure, organizations are encouraged to carry out analysis of exposure to climate hazards/risks/extreme weather events, sensitivity (ability to absorb) to the effects of that climate event or hazard, and capacity to adapt to reduce risk of exposure or increase sensitivity to the climate event or hazard.