How to develop a risk and vulnerability assessment : covenant of mayors guidebook : complementary document 2

The Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy Europe (CoM EU) is the largest European initiative for local climate and energy action. Through the CoM, municipalities voluntarily commit to tackling climate change, pursuing and advancing the commitments of national governments at a local scale. To ensure sound and effective climate action planning, implementation and monitoring, the CoM Guidebook provides municipalities with relevant context, objectives, methodological principles, proce-dures, data sources and examples to develop a sustainable energy and climate action plan (SECAP). One of the key elements of the SECAP, the risk and vulnerability assessment (RVA) is a process that combines scientific data with local knowledge to assess the current local situation in terms of climate risks. The present document provides a step-by-step guidance on how to develop a risk and vulnerability assessment, which is the ground to plan successful climate adaptation actions. The approach adopted in the CoM guidebook is grounded on scientific literature and is aligned with the IPCC framework from the Fifth Assessment Report onwards. The process to build the RVA consists of identifying past and future climate hazards, population and assets exposed as well as physical and social vulnerabilities, determining adaptive capacity to evaluate how well a community can adjust to climate impacts, an-alysing and prioritising risks and potential impacts. This is embedded in a framework where there is a dedicated team to develop the RVA, stakeholders are identified and engaged, and appropriate tools and techniques are explored and selected. This document also provides insights into climate adaptation goals, which should address the most important identified risks and vulnerabilities in alignment with the community's capacity and needs.