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Beyond vulnerability assessment

Nature Climate Change volume 3, pages 942–943 (2013)Cite this article

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To the Editor —

Climate stress testing is a promising way to improve preparedness for climate change hazards over a wide range of applications and actors, borrowed from the finance and nuclear power sectors. In their Commentary 'Managing risk with climate vulnerability science', Stern et al.1 build on a recent report of the National Academy of Sciences2, introducing a climate stress test to “consider how a potentially affected country, region, or socioeconomic system would be likely to perform, including how it might suffer, if struck by particular climate-related events and suggest ways to increase resilience to...disruptive events”1. We support the idea of a stress test, but believe much wider opportunities exist than the identification of security risks, and a stronger contribution from — and important challenge for — science than improved monitoring and predictive science is needed than is proposed by our US colleagues.

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Figure 1

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth Systems Science/Climate Change and Adaptive Land and Management team, Alterra, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, Building 100, Wageningen, 6708 PB, Netherlands

    Rob Swart

  2. Resources and International Trade Group, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, Torgauer Strasse 12–15, Berlin, 10829, Germany

    Sabine Fuss

  3. Ecosystems Services and Management Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, Laxenburg, A-2361, Austria

    Sabine Fuss & Michael Obersteiner

  4. Climate Modelling and Impacts Group, National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Anguillarese 301, Roma, I-00123, Italy

    Paolo Ruti

  5. Climate Service Center and Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Bundesstrasse 53, Hamburg, 20146

    Claas Teichmann

  6. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Bât. 712, Orme des Merisiers, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette CEDEX, France

    Robert Vautard

Authors
  1. Rob Swart
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  2. Sabine Fuss
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  3. Michael Obersteiner
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  4. Paolo Ruti
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  5. Claas Teichmann
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  6. Robert Vautard
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Correspondence to Rob Swart.

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Swart, R., Fuss, S., Obersteiner, M. et al. Beyond vulnerability assessment. Nature Clim Change 3, 942–943 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2029

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