POST-REVIEW DATASET, CODE, AND PREPRINT (UPDATE 2021/11/04): A harmonised country-level dataset to support the global stocktake regarding loss and damage from climate change

DATASET, CODE, AND PREPRINT for: A harmonised country-level dataset to support the global stocktake regarding loss and damage from climate change
Submitted for review.
Abstract

Under the Paris Agreement, parties should
undertake a global stocktake of progress towards meeting the goals of the
agreement and tackling climate change. The first global stocktake will be undertaken
in 2023, and an assessment of loss and damage from climate change is an
important part of the process. Loss and damage refers to the impacts of climate
change felt when mitigation and adaptation efforts are inadequate. Much data,
including metrics and indicators relevant for loss and damage, are held in
existing global databases, but these are disparate and cannot easily be
combined and compared to support the global stocktake. We combine relevant
primary data sources to provide a harmonised country-level global dataset containing
relevant indicators of: recorded losses and damages from climate-related events;
exposure to climate-related events; country vulnerability and adaptation
readiness; scientific studies of climate change attribution; financial support
for climate adaptation; and contextual governance conditions. The indicators
are standardised against country population and GDP where relevant. We describe
original data sources, processing steps, and an overview of key indicators in
the dataset. We also compare the assembled data to existing global risk
databases; namely, the INFORM risk index and the World Risk Index. This
comparison, provided in the Supporting Information, shows a large amount of
redundancy among vulnerability and governance indicators, and we suggest that creators
of new databases and risk indices be clear about data limitations and the gaps specific
indices attempt to fill in the global data landscape. We recommend the standard
use of ISO codes in future databases of this nature, as well as clear metadata
regarding how overseas territories are treated relative to their sovereign state,
and information on dissolution and creation of states over time.