ETC/CA report 1/2024 Guidelines to quantify climate change exposure and vulnerability indicators for the future: an example for heat stress risk across scales

This report provides guidelines for the development of socioeconomic indicators to assess future exposure and vulnerability to future climate hazards and inform science-policy assessments. Current climate risk assessments primarily rely on static indicators or linear extrapolations, which do not fully capture dynamic socio-economic drivers like urbanization, aging, and income distribution with more qualitative variables relating to vulnerability. This report proposes integrating insights from Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) to create scenario-based risk assessments that reflect future societal trends, making climate indicators more relevant for policy and planning.