Climate change becomes easier to use in a decision when you connect three questions: what conditions are changing, who or what is exposed, and what makes the consequences more or less severe. Then separate actions that reduce emissions from actions that help people and ecosystems cope with changing conditions.
A global temperature trend is important context. A decision about a building, neighborhood or habitat also needs local information, an explicit time horizon and a clear measure of success. This guide helps turn a broad concern into a question that can be investigated.
Connect the hazard to the place
The IPCC’s 2023 Synthesis Report describes interacting risks for people and ecosystems and emphasizes differences in vulnerability. Its assessment also finds that risks increase with further warming and that adaptation has limits. Those conclusions support examining both the changing hazard and the conditions that shape its consequences.
Use hazard for the potentially damaging condition, exposure for the people or assets in its path, and vulnerability for their susceptibility and capacity to cope. Treat these as a way to organize evidence, rather than an arithmetic formula with interchangeable scores.
On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways. Keyboard users can focus it and use the arrow keys.
| Concern | Local evidence to collect | Useful question |
|---|---|---|
| Heat | Shading, indoor conditions, occupancy and access to cooling | Which occupied spaces become difficult to use, and at what times? |
| Heavy rainfall | Drainage routes, low points, past impacts and critical access | Which entrances or services are exposed when water accumulates? |
| Water shortage | Supply source, seasonal demand and operating constraints | Which essential uses depend on a supply that may become less reliable? |
| Habitat change | Species, seasonal observations, connectivity and other pressures | What evidence separates climate effects from land use and other changes? |
The same weather can produce different consequences in two places. A shaded building with reliable cooling and an exposed building with limited power have different needs. Record those differences before borrowing another community’s solution.
Choose the job each response should do
Mitigation addresses the drivers of climate change through emissions reductions or increased removals. Adaptation adjusts systems and practices to reduce harm or respond to changing conditions. A project can contribute to both, but each benefit needs its own evidence. The IPCC report treats these responses together in climate-resilient development.
For example, a cooling-space project has an adaptation purpose when it improves access during heat. Its electricity use and supply affect its emissions. A building retrofit can reduce energy demand while improving indoor conditions, but actual results depend on the building and operation. Ask who can use the improved space, who maintains it and what happens during a power interruption.
Some responses shift burdens elsewhere: a flood intervention may change downstream flows, or a planting proposal may require more water than the site can supply. Include those dependencies in the project question. The neighborhood greening guide helps make site permission, resident priorities and maintenance responsibilities concrete.
Work through a local decision
A strong brief ends with an owner, a decision date and a source for the remaining uncertainty. “Assess shading for this room before selecting a project” is a tractable next step. “Solve climate change at the library” gives the team no completion criterion.
Keep projections and observations distinct
An observation describes measured conditions over a stated period. A projection explores outcomes under specified assumptions. A local projection should retain its scenario, baseline, time window, geographic resolution and uncertainty. For the physical evidence and chart-reading basics, see Global Warming: Read the Evidence, Charts and Scenarios.
Check whether a map gives an average, an extreme or an annual count above a threshold. A regional average cannot locate the coolest room in a building. A recent flood report helps identify exposure but, by itself, does not attribute that event to climate change. Match the scale of the evidence to the scale of the decision.
For an emissions-reduction project, define the inventory boundary and compare equivalent services; the organizational emissions guide provides a starting record. For an adaptation project, specify the local outcome and observation method. Review both when new information, changed use or an extreme event exposes an assumption that needs revision.
Climate concern and response brief
Download the climate concern and response brief (plain text). Save a copy, fill it in with your own sources and retain the unresolved questions for follow-up.