As climate impacts such as heatwaves, floods, and fires are intensifying worldwide, there is an urgent demand for information on how to respond. IIASA researchers and partners have developed a new tool that meets that need, integrating climate drivers, risks, and adaptation options in one framework grounded in IPCC science. It turns authoritative global climate assessments into guidance practitioners can use.
The new climate impact taxonomy, developed as part of research published in Nature Climate Change, can help translate the scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) into practical information for policymakers, adaptation planners, climate service providers, and other decision makers.
The IPCC assessment reports provide a wealth of scientific information, but there has been limited integration between the physical science of climate change and the assessment of its impacts and adaptation options. Practitioner-oriented products that translate IPCC concepts into actionable information have also been missing. The new taxonomy was created to bridge that gap by providing a shared framework that links measurable climate changes with the risks arising from them, and examples of how those risks can be addressed.
The tool systematically connects all 35 climatic impact-drivers identified by the IPCC, including physical climate conditions such as coastal flooding, drought, or extreme heat, with the eight representative key risks, which describe the major climate-related risks to ecosystems, infrastructure, food security, water resources, cities, and human wellbeing. Each connection is enriched with practical information, including the scale at which impacts occur, the systems affected, examples of adaptation responses, links to mitigation options, and references to the relevant IPCC chapters.
“This work is less about producing new climate science and more about making existing information actionable. Navigating the IPCC reports can be challenging due to their scope and complexity. Our taxonomy provides an easier entry point by directly linking measurable climatic impact-drivers to specific risks and adaptation responses,” explains lead author Michaela Werning, a researcher in the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program.
The researchers highlight several important patterns in the information compiled within the taxonomy. More than half of the combinations of climate hazards and the risks they create primarily play out at regional scales, underscoring that many climate impacts are determined by unique regional conditions. The analysis also found an almost even split between gradual changes in the climate and extreme events, showing that it is important to build capacity not only to deal with such events, but also to plan on longer time scales. In addition, just under half of the climate driver-risk combinations are expected to reach high levels of risk at around 1.5°C of global warming, while a similar proportion reaches high levels of risk beyond 2°C, emphasizing the need for both mitigation and adaptation. The taxonomy also highlights where scientific evidence is still limited, helping identify priorities for future research.
The researchers see a wide range of potential applications for which the taxonomy could provide useful information to stakeholders. Climate service providers could use it to build tailored risk dashboards, adaptation planners could use it to identify suitable response options, and policymakers could better understand how reducing emissions today can lower future climate risks across different sectors. It also offers the scientific community a practical framework for integrating knowledge across the physical science of climate change and the assessment of its impacts and corresponding adaptation options.
“As impacts from climate change become more frequent and climate risks intensify in communities around the world, a shared language and framework will be increasingly critical. This taxonomy can both engage newer and larger audiences and advance a global response that protects people and the planet,” says coauthor Seth Monteith, Director, Advisory and Insights at ClimateWorks Foundation.
The team notes that the taxonomy is a prototype that could lay the groundwork for more coherent and actionable climate impact assessments. They envision it as a starting point and a living tool that invites research and practitioner communities to refine and validate it.
“No single team has the expertise to cover the full breadth of climate impacts on its own. That’s exactly why we have created a structured and transparent way for people to submit feedback. We need voices from across the research and practitioner community to test, challenge, and improve this prototype,” says Alexander Nauels, study coauthor and a Senior Research Scholar in the Integrated Climate Impacts Research Group of the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program.
Through this collaborative process, the team hopes to deliver climate information that is increasingly useful for those making decisions in a changing climate.
Explore the Climate Impact Taxonomy at: https://climate-impact-taxonomy.iiasa.ac.at/
