National Climate Change Risk Assessment
The EPA is leading in the provision of a National Climate Change Risk Assessment. National climate change risk assessments (NCCRAs) are aimed at supporting planning for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change impacts - providing insights into the solutions needed to inform the climate change adaptation planning process.
The process should set out the priority impacts of climate change for Ireland which will provide a basis for making decisions on whether risks are acceptable to society or communities. It will then determine how risks can be reduced and how potential opportunities can be realised.
This will be a systematic semi-quantitative iterative risk assessment process that supports identification, assessment, and prioritisation of climate change risks that are underpinned by consistent climate information and accounts for uncertainty in climate projections.
Process
The methodology for the Irish NCCRA has been developed through a wide engagement process in 2024. The methodology outlines the approach for the development and delivery of the NCCRA. The NCCRA will be delivered in three stages; risk identification, risk assessment and urgency and adaptation prioritisation, underpinned by a preliminary stage on scoping and context.
The methodology is a working document and the final methodology will be available along with the final report, summary for policymakers and all accompanying reports in Q1 2025.
Outcomes
- Put in place a robust, common method to improve the standard of national and sectoral climate change risk assessment in Ireland;
- Identify and comparatively assess risks within and across sectors – including cascading, transboundary and cross-cutting risks;
- Ensure risks outside existing adaptation sectors are captured;
- Inform standardised adaptation planning and investment by producing a prioritised list of climate change risks at a national level, and
- Identify linkages between other plans, policies and risk assessments.