Navigating Complex Climate Change Risks

This podcast outlines how we can better assess and respond to complex climate change risks. It highlights how multiple drivers of risk interact and how various risks can compound or cascade. Existing assessment frameworks often fail to fully account for these interactions. Three categories of increasing complexity are discussed: interactions among single drivers, interactions of multiple drivers within risk determinants (hazard, vulnerability, exposure, and response), and interactions among multiple distinct risks. Integrating responses to climate change as a determinant of risk is crucial for more informed decision-making and effective interventions. This podcast draws on the following work from the Climate Risk Lab:

• A framework for complex climate change risk assessment. One Earth, 4(4), 489-501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.03.005
• Advances in complex climate change risk assessment for adaptation, npj Climate Action, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-025-00281-y 
• Adaptation to compound climate risks: a systematic global stocktake, iScience, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.105926
• Complex climate change risk and emerging directions for vulnerability research in Africa, Climate Risk Management, 40, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2023.100497