Climate change vulnerability (or climate vulnerability or climate risk vulnerability) is a concept that describes how strongly people or ecosystems are likely to be affected by climate change. It is defined as the "propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected" by climate change. It can apply to humans and also to natural systems (or ecosystems). Related concepts include climate sensitivity and the ability, or lack thereof, to cope and adapt. Vulnerability is a component of climate risk. Vulnerability differs within communities and across societies, regions, and countries, and can increase or decrease over time.
Vulnerability of people and ecosystems with regards to climate change effects is driven by certain unsustainable development patterns such as "unsustainable ocean and land use, inequity, marginalization, historical and ongoing patterns of inequity such as colonialism, and governance". Therefore, vulnerability is higher in some locations than in others. Certain aspects within a region increase vulnerability, for example poverty, bad governance and violent conflict. Some types of livelihoods are regarded as particularly climate-sensitive, resulting in a higher level of climate change vulnerability. These include for example smallholder farmers, pastoralists and fishing communities.
Vulnerability can be grouped into two overlapping categories: These are economic vulnerability, based on socioeconomic factors, and geographic vulnerability. People who are more vulnerable than others include for example people with low incomes, indigenous peoples, women, children, the elderly.
There are several tools available to assess climate vulnerability. Because climate vulnerability disproportionally affects low-income countries, climate vulnerability has become an important tool in international negotiations about climate change adaptation, climate finance and other international policy making activities.
Climate change vulnerability is defined as the "propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected" by climate change.
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
The course equips students with a comprehensive scientific understanding of climate change covering a wide range of topics from physical principles, historical climate change, greenhouse gas emissions
Le cours présente les enjeux mondiaux liés au climat : système climatique et prévisions ; impacts sur écosystèmes et biodiversité; cadrage historique et débat public; objectifs et politiques climatiqu
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a group of developing countries that are small island countries and tend to share similar sustainable development challenges. These include small but growing populations, limited resources, remoteness, susceptibility to natural disasters, vulnerability to external shocks, excessive dependence on international trade, and fragile environments.
Tidal flooding, also known as sunny day flooding or nuisance flooding, is the temporary inundation of low-lying areas, especially streets, during exceptionally high tide events, such as at full and new moons. The highest tides of the year may be known as the king tide, with the month varying by location. These kinds of floods tend not to be a high risk to property or human safety, but further stress coastal infrastructure in low lying areas.
The effects of climate change on human health are increasingly well studied and quantified. They can be grouped into direct effects (for example due to heat waves, extreme weather events) or indirect effects. The latter take place through changes in the biosphere for example due to changes in water and air quality, food security and displacement. Social dynamics such as age, gender or socioeconomic status influence to what extent these effects become wide-spread risks to human health.
Covers environmental engineering, atmospheric impacts, biotechnology, CO2 concentration, and climate change assessments.
Focuses on analyzing wind directions to understand air pollutant origins, covering loading libraries, reading wind data, and visualizing wind roses.
Explores the accelerated warming in polar regions, the impact of forest fires, sea ice evolution, and mitigation measures.
The transition to a low-carbon economy can create new job opportunities but may cause job displacement in some sectors that heavily rely on fossil fuels. In order to gain a balanced appraisal in understanding the broader consequences of climate policies, t ...
2025
Building climate risk assessment involves benchmarking a building's energy use intensity against decarbonisation pathways to mitigate the impacts on climate change. Various climate risk assessment tools and frameworks are used for commercial buildings in d ...
Zoning reform is a crucial tool for cities to adapt to contemporary challenges. However, its implementation remains challenging. Property owners, with a vested interest in the value of their neighborhoods, are sensitive to local developments and the potent ...