Climate Change vulnerability and preparedness

Ridwan Bello, October 2022

Winter is coming! This expression is not only an iconic line from the famous TV show "Game of Thrones", it is also a suitable metaphor for the devastation that countries may suffer from the anticipated impacts of climate change.

But which countries are most vulnerable to climate change impacts and which are most prepared? Do countries' income levels influence their climate change vulnerability and preparedness? Find out in this interactive visual based on data from the Notre-Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN). Hover over the bubbles to see country names and use the slider to see annotations.

Notes:

1. Prepared but not vulnerable is conceived as scoring above the 75th percentile on the readiness index and below the 10th percentile on the vulnerability index. Vulnerable but unprepared is conceived as scoring above the 90th percentile on the vulnerability index and below the 25th percentile on the readiness index.

2. According to the ND-GAIN data, the climate change vulnerability index measures "a country's exposure, sensitivity and capacity to adapt to the negative effects of climate change". Its computation considers six life-supporting sectors namely food, water, health, ecosystem service, human habitat, and infrastructure". The climate change readiness index measures "a country’s ability to leverage investments and convert them to adaptation actions ". Its computation considers three components – economic readiness, governance readiness and social readiness". For questions about the data and its methodology, please click here.

3. Plot is not optimized for mobile devices.