The politics of climate risk assessment
Abstract Almost 25 years ago, sociologist Anthony Giddens wrote that ‘risk and responsibility are in fact closely linked’1. Extending this to climate risk, this perspective paper argues that climate risk assessment is not just a scientific endeavour but also deeply political. As climate risks become...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2023-12-01
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| Series: | npj Climate Action |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-023-00078-x |
| _version_ | 1827399268872224768 |
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| author | Johanna Hedlund |
| author_facet | Johanna Hedlund |
| author_sort | Johanna Hedlund |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Almost 25 years ago, sociologist Anthony Giddens wrote that ‘risk and responsibility are in fact closely linked’1. Extending this to climate risk, this perspective paper argues that climate risk assessment is not just a scientific endeavour but also deeply political. As climate risks become more complex and demand more science- and policy-driven integration across sectors and regions, assessments may involve significant political constraints that impede effective and just climate adaptation. Using a framework of integration challenges, this paper uncovers political constraints that may arise in developing integrated climate risk assessment. It argues that the framing and structuring of climate risk assessment may yield political constraints such as biases towards certain groups, sectoral incoherence, decisions not aiding the most exposed, distributional conflicts, and ambiguous responsibility in managing complex climate risks. Left unaddressed, such political constraints may hamper climate adaptation rather than enable progress. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T19:43:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5f352180b380438b9b4ae8aab7a8162c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2731-9814 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T19:43:22Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Climate Action |
| spelling | doaj.art-5f352180b380438b9b4ae8aab7a8162c2023-12-24T12:32:23ZengNature Portfolionpj Climate Action2731-98142023-12-01211510.1038/s44168-023-00078-xThe politics of climate risk assessmentJohanna Hedlund0Department of Earth System Science, Stanford UniversityAbstract Almost 25 years ago, sociologist Anthony Giddens wrote that ‘risk and responsibility are in fact closely linked’1. Extending this to climate risk, this perspective paper argues that climate risk assessment is not just a scientific endeavour but also deeply political. As climate risks become more complex and demand more science- and policy-driven integration across sectors and regions, assessments may involve significant political constraints that impede effective and just climate adaptation. Using a framework of integration challenges, this paper uncovers political constraints that may arise in developing integrated climate risk assessment. It argues that the framing and structuring of climate risk assessment may yield political constraints such as biases towards certain groups, sectoral incoherence, decisions not aiding the most exposed, distributional conflicts, and ambiguous responsibility in managing complex climate risks. Left unaddressed, such political constraints may hamper climate adaptation rather than enable progress.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-023-00078-x |
| spellingShingle | Johanna Hedlund The politics of climate risk assessment npj Climate Action |
| title | The politics of climate risk assessment |
| title_full | The politics of climate risk assessment |
| title_fullStr | The politics of climate risk assessment |
| title_full_unstemmed | The politics of climate risk assessment |
| title_short | The politics of climate risk assessment |
| title_sort | politics of climate risk assessment |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-023-00078-x |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT johannahedlund thepoliticsofclimateriskassessment AT johannahedlund politicsofclimateriskassessment |