What is Your Climate Vulnerability?

As climate change continues to reshape the environment, understanding the risks and vulnerabilities specific to different communities is more important than ever. The U.S. Climate Vulnerability Index offers a new interactive mapping tool to help users visualize climate-related vulnerabilities across the country and to show which areas face the greatest challenges from the impacts of climate change. 

What Is the U.S. Climate Vulnerability Index?

The U.S. Climate Vulnerability Index is a comprehensive tool designed to measure and map climate vulnerabilities across various geographic areas. It presents data at both the county and tract levels, enabling users to zoom in on specific regions and gain a detailed understanding of the climate risks they face locally.

The map highlights areas of high vulnerability using darker colors, making it easy to spot regions that are most at risk. By selecting different indicators, users can explore specific factors contributing to climate vulnerability, such as socioeconomic conditions, environmental hazards, or infrastructure resilience.

Key Features of the Interactive Map

The map’s interface is intuitive and packed with useful features to help users navigate the data efficiently:

• Indicator Navigation Tree – Users can explore five levels of vulnerability indicators to better understand the drivers of climate risks.
• Cartogram View – This feature displays how climate risks vary across different states or Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regions, helping users identify broader trends.
• Location Focus Bar – Clicking on a location provides in-depth details, including the region’s vulnerability level, national percentile score, and ranking for the selected indicator.
• Search and Filter Tools – Users can search for specific locations, zoom in and out, pan across different areas, and adjust the map scale filter to focus on high-vulnerability regions.

The U.S. Climate Vulnerability Index is a powerful and accessible tool for anyone interested in understanding climate risks in their community and beyond. By offering an easy-to-navigate, data-rich interactive map, it empowers users with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions about climate adaptation and resilience strategies.

You can explore the potential conflict risks which arrive from climate vulnerability on the Climate Conflict Vulnerability Index Map. The Climate Conflict Vulnerability Index Map identifies areas around the world where climate change and conflicts are likely to happen, and where people are especially vulnerable to these risks.

How It Works

The CCVI is built on three key factors:

• Climate: Looks at the risks caused by changes in weather, such as more intense storms, droughts, or floods.
• Conflict: Considers places where there is a higher chance of violence or conflict.
• Vulnerability: Focuses on how vulnerable people are based on things like poverty, poor infrastructure, or limited resources.

The tool combines all this data to figure out which regions are most at risk. It’s updated every three months and uses a system that breaks the world into small squares (about 55 km by 55 km) to analyze risks. If you hover over any of these squares on the map you can view each of the Climate, Conflict and Vulnerability Index scores for that region. You can also select either Climate, Conflict or Vulnerability form the map menu to view where in the world these risks are highest.

Why It Was Made

The CCVI was developed with support from the German government to help researchers, governments, and organizations understand where climate change and conflicts are most likely to create the biggest problems, so they can plan and take action to help those areas.

In short, the map shows where climate change and conflict might hit hardest, helping organisations and governments figure out how best to respond to these challenges.