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https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3451
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3451
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
25 Jul 2025
| 25 Jul 2025
Status: this preprint is open for discussion and under review for Earth System Dynamics (ESD).
Challenges and Opportunities for Understanding Societal Impacts of Climate Extremes
Abstract. Climate extremes exact a heavy toll on society, with adverse impacts unequally distributed across populations. In this perspective, we outline key challenges and opportunities for advancing research on understanding societal impacts of climate extremes. We identify three key challenges: limited availability and quality of impact data, difficulties in elucidating the genesis of impacts and lack of reliable impact projections. We argue that there is a window of opportunity to address several dimensions of these challenges, and we highlight recent examples and ongoing developments that hold transformative potential for the research field. We conclude with a call to build momentum by fostering interdisciplinary research and collaboration across sectors.
How to cite. Messori, G., Boyd, E., Nivre, J., and Raffetti, E.: Challenges and Opportunities for Understanding Societal Impacts of Climate Extremes, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3451, 2025.
Competing interests: At least one of the (co-)authors is a member of the editorial board of Earth System Dynamics.
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Gabriele Messori
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Dept. of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, 752 36, Sweden
Swedish Centre for Impacts of Climate Extremes (climes), Uppsala University, Uppsala, 752 36, Sweden
Dept. of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 114 18, Sweden
Emily Boyd
Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, Lund University, Lund, 223 62, Sweden
Swedish Centre for Impacts of Climate Extremes (climes), Lund University, Lund, 223 62, Sweden
Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, 104 05, Sweden
Joakim Nivre
Swedish Centre for Impacts of Climate Extremes (climes), Uppsala University, Uppsala, 752 36, Sweden
Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, 751 26, Sweden
Elena Raffetti
Swedish Centre for Impacts of Climate Extremes (climes), Uppsala University, Uppsala, 752 36, Sweden
Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, 171 77, Sweden
British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0SR, U.K.
Short summary
Understanding impacts of climate extremes is very important for society and the economy. We identify three challenges restricting this understanding: limited availability and quality of impact data, difficulties in understanding why given impacts occur and lack of reliable projections of future impacts. We also identify key opportunities, including newly released datasets, recent methodological and technical advances and interdisciplinary collaborations between the social and natural sciences.
Understanding impacts of climate extremes is very important for society and the economy. We...
The authors provide a nice framework by identifying three core challenges: impact data, impact genesis, and impact projection. The discussion of recent advances like LLMs, storyline projections, and high-resolution datasets is valuable. The manuscript is well-written, interdisciplinary, and robustly supported by literature.
Here are some points to further enhance the paper's contribution:
Colon, C., Hallegatte, S. & Rozenberg, J. Criticality analysis of a country’s transport network via an agent-based supply chain model. Nat Sustain 4, 209–215 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00649-4
Pfleiderer, P., Frölicher, T.L., Kropf, C.M. et al. Reversal of the impact chain for actionable climate information. Nat. Geosci. 18, 10–19 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01597-w