This scoping study aims to increase understanding of recent innovations, and of remaining methodological challenges to future innovation in CRA. It is based on a large sample of very diverse approaches originating from academia, the private sector (such as insurance or banks), public utility management and development cooperation. It is evident that climate change is threatening not only assets, livelihoods and ecosystems, but also our ability to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. A foundation of sustainable development is laid by an effective climate risk management which, in turn, is based upon a context-specific climate risk assessment (CRA).
To facilitate the identification of suitable context-specific CRA approaches, and to provide an overview of the state of the art of existing methods, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Global Programme on Risk Assessment and Management for Adaptation to Climate Change (Loss and Damage) has compiled a data- base consisting of 120 CRA methods structured according to 36 different criteria, with specific emphasis on aspects which are relevant to challenges in the context of losses and damages. This database includes methods that were developed in different regions of the world (primarily in Europe and North America) – some as early as 1998 but with the majority published during or after 2014. It represents (to the authors’ knowledge) the first endeavour to collect and summarise a wide range of publicly available CRA methods in one database.