An Intersectional Approach to Climate Risk Assessment
A working framework
Climate risk assessments (CRAs) are the foundation for adaptation decision making, but too often they overlook or oversimplify the social dynamics that influence climate risks. An intersectional approach to CRA analyzes how systems of inequity overlap and interact, and how they create structural barriers that increase vulnerability to climate change. This working paper provides an overview of a framework for an intersectional CRA approach.
Key Messages
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An intersectional approach improves typical CRAs by analyzing how systems of inequity overlap and interact, as well as how they create structural barriers that increase vulnerability to climate change.
Given the importance of social factors in determining climate risks, more attention is needed to identify particularly vulnerable groups. But identifying who is most vulnerable is only a first step; we also need to understand why they are more vulnerable. Too often, analysis of these dynamics is overlooked, oversimplified, or grounded in assumptions and generalizations. An intersectional approach to CRA helps to overcome these gaps by analyzing how systems of inequity overlap and interact, as well as how they create structural barriers that increase vulnerability to climate change.
Building on a previous knowledge co-production workshop held in 2024, the International Institute for Sustainable Development convened a workshop in May 2025 to discuss how to apply an intersectional approach to CRAs. The workshop brought together researchers, advocates, and practitioners in a co-production process to explore how intersecting systems of inequity could be reflected in the assessment of climate risks. The output was a working framework for an intersectional approach to CRA, which is currently being tested through participatory case study research in Nepal and South Africa.
The working paper explains how this framework was produced and provides an overview of the approach. The contributions of all participants at the workshop in the development of this working framework are gratefully acknowledged. The working paper will interest adaptation practitioners, researchers, and policy-makers exploring how to adopt an intersectional approach when assessing climate risks.
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