Climate risk and response: Physical hazards and socioeconomic impacts

The report focusues on the risks arising from the physical effects of climate change, including the potential effects on people, communities, natural and physical capital, and economic activity, and the implications for companies, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. The report estimates inherent physical risk, absent adaptation and mitigation, to dimension the magnitude of the challenge and highlight the case for action. Climate science makes extensive use of scenarios ranging from lower (Representative Concentration Pathway 2.6) to higher (RCP 8.5) CO₂ concentrations. It was chosen to focus on RCP 8.5, because the higher-emission scenario it portrays enables us to assess physical risk in the absence of further decarbonization. In this report, a link between climate models with economic projections to examine nine cases that illustrate exposure to climate change extremes and proximity to physical thresholds is made. A separate geospatial assessment examines six indicators to assess potential socioeconomic impact in 105 countries. It also provides decision makers with a new framework and methodology to estimate risks in their own specific context.