Climate risk assessments at the municipal level
In view of the ever-increasing progress of climate change, the importance of climate risk assessments is growing. They play a major role at the municipal level in particular (cities, districts, municipalities), because it is here that precautionary action must take place in the face of the dangers of he climate crisis. Every municipality is affected by climate change, but in different ways – a result of spatial conditions and socio-economic factors. Climate risk assessments enable municipalities to identify and prioritise the impacts of climate change that are relevant to them, such as drought, heavy rain or heat. Municipalities can, for example, determine what or who is most affected, i.e. whether heat stress for people or flooding of buildings poses a climate risk, and the location of the most vulnerable areas. The recommendations in this paper provide support for the preparation and implementation of climate risk assessments at the municipal level. They summarise the international standard “Adaptation to climate change – Guidelines on vulnerability, impacts and risk assessment” (ISO 14091:2021-07) and supplement this general guideline with specific recommendations for municipalities. This paper addresses municipalities that can use the recommendations for their own climate risk assessments, as well as municipalities that want to commission an external service provider; the latter can use these recommendations as a guide when formulating the call for tenders. The recommendations are primarily aimed at those who have sufficient capacity to carry out a climate risk assessment.
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