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Coastal Risk Screening Tool

The Coastal Risk Screening Tool is a free, interactive, screening-level mapping tool that enables users to explore areas exposed to sea-level rise and coastal flooding worldwide, by decade and under multiple emissions scenarios. Users can select from multiple sea-level-rise projection sources, while the tool incorporates Climate Central’s CoastalDEM®, a high-precision dataset of coastal land elevation.

Open tool

What you can do with it

Input

  • Select a coastal location anywhere in the world.
  • Choose a sea-level-rise projection source, emissions scenario, decade and percentile.
  • Explore exposure to sea-level rise and coastal flooding.
  • Select coastal flood frequencies or return periods.
  • Compare map views using CoastalDEM elevation data.

Output

  • Interactive screening-level maps of potential coastal exposure.
  • Sea-level-rise and coastal-flood visualisations by decade and scenario.
  • Comparisons across projection sources, emissions scenarios, percentiles and flood levels.
  • Reports and supporting decision-information.
  • Map layers based on CoastalDEM and other projection datasets.

Use it to

  • Screen areas potentially exposed to sea-level rise and coastal flooding.
  • Compare coastal exposure across locations, decades and scenarios.
  • Raise awareness and communicate future coastal risks.
  • Support early-stage land-use, urban, infrastructure and coastal adaptation discussions.
  • Identify where official local maps and detailed defence-aware modelling are needed.

Why is it relevant to climate adaptation

Provides a free, globally consistent way to screen potential exposure to sea-level rise and coastal flooding, making it useful for rapid comparison and early risk conversations where local analysis is not yet available. Users can explore alternative projection sources, scenarios, decades and flood frequencies, while CoastalDEM improves the representation of coastal elevation in many locations. It is not suitable for engineering, regulatory, insurance or emergency decisions because it uses screening-level “bathtub” modelling and does not fully represent local drainage, erosion or flood defences.

Used in

  • Global coastal-exposure screening for sea-level rise and coastal flooding.
  • Early-stage coastal adaptation, land-use and urban-planning discussions worldwide.
  • Screening of risks to buildings, transport, water infrastructure and cultural heritage in coastal areas.
  • Public and professional risk communication using Climate Central’s CoastalDEM-based maps.
  • Comparison of coastal exposure across countries, regions and cities under multiple scenarios.

Metadata

User Group
Commission services and/or AgenciesTransboundary networksNational authorities
Geographic coverage
Global
Spatial resolution

Local

Support of Adaptation Policy Cycle
Step 2: Assessing Climate Change Risks and Vulnerabilities
Adaptation sectors
BuildingsCultural heritageDisaster Risk Reduction
Climate hazards
FloodingCoastal flooding / storm surgeSea Level Rise
Type of outputs
Maps and graphsReports and decision support
Temporality of data
Forward-looking
Language
English, Spanish
Accessibility and usability
High
Data sources
Public datasets from external providersProject-generated or processed datasets
Tool validation use
Peer-reviewed methodologyExpert validation / reputable institution

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CoCliCo Platform

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This translation is generated by eTranslation, a machine translation tool provided by the European Commission.

Exclusion of liability
This translation is generated by eTranslation, a machine translation tool provided by the European Commission.