Improving Climate Risk Metrics for Policy Action: Navigating Conceptual Confusion and Methodological Trade-offs

Climate-related risk indices are widely used to guide adaptation, but they diverge in how they define and measure vulnerability, exposure, and risk.

Successive shifts in the IPCC framework - from vulnerability-focused to risk-oriented models - have not been consistently adopted in practice.

Methodological choices on indicator selection, weighting, aggregation and validation strongly shape results yet often lack transparency.
Most indices are produced at the national level, overlooking subnational disparities where climate risks are most acute.

More transparent, IPCC-aligned, and subnationally relevant metrics are essential to ensure resources reach those most in need.