The Physical Vulnerability to Climate Change Index: An Index to Be Used for International Policy

Recent years have seen a sharp increase in the production of indices of vulnerability to climate change. Most of these indices of vulnerability to climate change have been primarily used for awareness-raising purposes rather than for guiding international policy. The Physical Vulnerability to Climate Change Index (PVCCI) proposed in this paper has been designed as an index of exogenous vulnerability, not influenced by the present policy of the countries concerned. As such it can be used as a criterion for guiding the international allocation of concessional resources (in particular those devoted to adaptation), as well as for the identification of the countries that are most vulnerable for structural or physical reasons. The index has been calculated for 191 countries. LDCs, SIDS, and African countries have a higher average score. However, there is a wide disparity in PVCCI scores within these three groups of countries, implying that a country-by-country allocation of resources should be used rather than an allocation by country group. The findings appear to be robust after comparison of various options.