Econometric Assessment of Institutional Quality in Mitigating Global Climate-Change Risk

Background: Environmental deterioration is the alarming situation that results from rapid urbanization and development. The rising temperature and climate volatility are accounted for by the massive carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The research on climate-change mitigation is trying to curtail the situations before they become irreversible and unmanageable. This study explores the role of institutions in mitigating climate change by moderating the impact of environmental quality on climate change risk. Methodology: Global data sets have been collected from world big data depositories like the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Development Indicators (WDI), and the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG). Countries that are listed in WEF were used as the sample of the study. An analysis was based on 114 countries that are based on the availability of data. For estimation, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, change effects, and a Panel Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) model were used for estimating the results. Results: The global assessment indicates that CO2 emissions increase the climate risk, but its impact can be reduced by increasing the quality of institutions. Additionally, an increase in renewable energy consumption and economic growth reduces the climate risk. Implications: It is an instrumental study that empirically investigated the role of institutions in reducing climate risk by moderating CO2 emissions. The results of this study will help policymakers to formulate policies regarding environmental protection.

Teaching climate risk for water planning: a pilot training for tertiary students and practitioners in Brazil

Climate change is one of the major challenges of our society; thus educational resources on climate risk and adaptation are needed. In this case study, we present a short-duration face-to-face training for water professionals about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s climate risk framework. The training uses problem-based learning (PBL) pedagogy, and its suitability and benefits are evaluated with qualitative observation and self-assessment of knowledge of tertiary students and practitioners from five independent groups in Brazil. We find that the application of a mapping exercise using the IPCC's climate risk framework supports learning about climate risk, as well as data interpretation, creativity, teamwork, communication, and critical thinking by the participants. This work merges the IPCC's climate risk framework and PBL for climate risk training. The proposed training enables the teaching of climate risk in stand-alone courses and professional development training in areas where climate is an embedded component.

Global Climate Services: A Typology of Global Decisions Influenced by Climate Risk

Climate services are ideally co-developed by scientists and stakeholders working together to identify decisions and user needs. Yet, while climate services have been developed at regional to local scales, relatively little attention has been paid to the global scale. Global climate services involve decisions that rely on climate information from many locations in different world regions, and are increasingly salient. Increasing interconnections in the global financial system and supply chains expose private companies and financial institutions to climate risk in multiple locations in different world regions. Further, multilateral decisions on greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, disaster risk finance or international migration should make use of global scale climate risk assessments. In order to advance global climate service development, we present a typology of decisions relying on global (i.e., non-local) climate risk information. We illustrate each decision type through examples of current practice from the coastal domain drawn from the literature and stakeholder interviews. We identify 8 types of decisions making use of global climate information. At a top-level, we distinguish between “multilateral climate policy decisions,” and “portfolio decisions involving multiple locations.” Multilateral climate policy decisions regard either “mitigation targets” or “multilateral adaptation” decisions. Portfolio decisions regard either “choice of location” or “choice of financial asset” decisions. Choice of location decisions can be further distinguished as to whether they involve “direct climate risks,” “supply chain risks” or “financial network risks.” Our survey of examples shows that global climate service development is more advanced for portfolio decisions taken by companies with experience in climate risk assessment, i.e., (re-)insurers, whereas many multilateral climate policy decisions are at an earlier stage of decision-making. Our typology thus provides an entry-point for global climate service development by pointing to promising research directions for supporting global (non-local) decisions that account for climate risks.

The impact of climate risks on Russia’s economic development: example of the North Caucasian Federal District

This article presents an analysis of climate risks structure and effects on the Russian Federation's economic development. Despite the existed theoretical background, it is not clear about the leading risk factor, human adaptation to it, and the subsequent effect on the economy. This happens since some climate risks can be controlled; therefore, their impact on the regional economy is minimal. Thus, we are interested in the scope of certain climate risks affecting the Russian Federations economic situation. We have selected the North Caucasian Federal District because it is strongly susceptible to the most severe climate risks as droughts and floods. Considering the complexity of the climate risk formation process, we use mixed-methods. It allows identifying the quantitative component and analyzing the object in the framework of the existing theoretical background. During our research, we determined the cause of climate risk formation in the Russian Federation. With the collected empirical data for 2010-2013 regarding the level of drought, precipitation, and crop productivity, we have compared the region's economic situation with climate risks. It was determined that despite the clear manifestation of climate risks in the North Caucasian Federal District, the economic damage to the region is minimal due to the high level of the region's resistance to the existing threats and their localization. Nevertheless, guided by the theoretical and methodological basis of the topic under study and revised data on the migration loss of the region, we can assume that the North Caucasian FDs climate risks are expressed in the concept of climate migration, and this process has an increasing dynamic.