Climate Risk Lab Wiki User Guide

Overview

Welcome to the Climate Risk Wiki! The Climate Risk Wiki is an open-source platform designed to facilitate collaboration and knowledge-sharing around climate-related financial risks. It hosts datasets, analytical tools, and methods focused on physical and transition risks, aiming to support stakeholders like financial institutions, policymakers, and researchers. This guide will introduce you to the core features of the platform, demonstrate how to navigate and contribute to the wiki, and explain how to engage with the community in analyzing and mitigating climate-related financial risks.

I. Introduction

• Purpose of the Wiki
  • The Climate Risk Wiki is an open-source platform designed to facilitate collaboration and knowledge-sharing around climate-related financial risks. It hosts datasets, analytical tools, and methods focused on physical and transition risks, aiming to support stakeholders like financial institutions, policymakers, and researchers.
• Overview of the platform
  • Focus on Physical risk, transition risk, and biodiversity loss related risks
  • Provide data, tools, methods, and other resources needed.
  • Encourage contribution and collaboration.
• Governance

The CRL Wiki is overseen by the Editorial Board and sustained through contributions and maintenance by a four-tier user system. Editorial Board: The Editorial Board is responsible for the oversight of the wiki's content, maintaining its accuracy, quality, and relevance. Specific duties include: Power users recruitment Identify and recruit qualified Power Users from diverse sectors and industries, evaluating expertise and providing onboarding support to ensure oversight of content quality. Guidance and Collaboration Provide guidance and support to Major Contributors and Topic Ambassadors, fostering a collaborative environment that encourages the refinement of wiki content. Content Review and Audit Review and approve all major content contributions to maintain standards of accuracy, relevance, and neutrality, while regularly auditing and updating existing content based on user feedback to improve clarity and usability. Moderate Discussions Monitor and moderate discussions and feedback from Registered and Public users, ensuring constructive dialogue and addressing disputes to uphold community standards. Community Engagement Actively engage with the contributor community to encourage participation and collaboration, while identifying and inviting new Topic Ambassadors and Major Contributors to ensure a continuous influx of expertise and perspectives. Tier 1: Topic Ambassadors (Power Users) Topic Ambassadors are responsible for reviewing, approving, and moderating all new content submissions to ensure alignment with the editorial guidelines, relevance to climate-related financial risks, and adherence to neutrality and accuracy. Ambassadors must regularly address user feedback, ensure ongoing content quality, and foster collaboration across sectors. Topic ambassadors are by invitation only; they are recruited by the editorial board, and Ambassadors are expected to actively engage in shaping the wiki’s direction. Tier 2: Major Contributors Major Contributors are responsible for actively enhancing wiki content by adding or updating datasets, tools, methods, and models. Major Contributors are typically referred by Topic Ambassadors based on their expertise and significant contributions. Tier 3: Registered Users Registered users may provide feedback and suggestions for improvements through discussion pages or comments. They help shape content quality by offering insights and participating in dialogue. While they do not have direct editing privileges, their role is crucial in refining the relevance and usefulness of the wiki. Tier 4: Public Users Public users may view all content and offer feedback without registration. Feedback should be constructive and contribute to the overall improvement of the wiki. Public users engage primarily as information consumers but are encouraged to share observations and insights via available feedback channels.

II. Getting Started

• Homepage: Visit the Main Page to see an overview of the wiki's mission, latest updates, and featured content.
• Search Bar: Use the search function at the top to find topics, datasets, tools, and models related to climate risks.
• Browse by Category: Access the navigation bar on the left to explore content organized by key categories.
  • Overview: A "Practical Guide on Calculating Climate-Related Financial Risk" which provides guidance for quantifying both climate-related and biodiversity loss-related financial risks. “Climate change scenarios” section introduces what climate scenarios are and lists the most commonly used ones
  • Physical Risk covers datasets and tools used to assess the physical impacts of climate change.
  • Transition Risk covers datasets and tools used to assess the risks associated with the shift to a low-carbon economy.
  • Biodiversity Risk  covers financial risks that arise from the decline or loss of biodiversity.
  • Others
    • Climate Risk Map is a mapping tool that allows users to evaluate infrastructure exposure and vulnerability to climate hazards over different time horizons, supporting informed planning and risk management.
    • Climate Risk Stakeholders provides an overview of organizations engaged in climate risk-related work, with a focus on their key projects and available open-source data portals and tools, where applicable
    • AI for Climate Risk lists the AI tools used in various aspects of climate-related financial risk analysis.
    • Taxonomy provides a comprehensive list of commonly used terminology in the wiki and the field of climate-related financial risks

III. Exploring Content

The wiki covers physical, transition, and biodiversity loss-related risk, with methodology, datasets, and tools provided for each risk. Each risk category also includes an overview that introduces the risk, outlines transmission channels to the economic and financial sectors, and presents current assessment methodologies. Physical risk is used as an example to illustrate the organization of each section.

• Overview offers a detailed introduction of physical risk, covering its definition, categories, and how physical damage translates into economic and financial impacts. It briefly touches on the methodologies, models, and datasets needed for risk assessment, providing context for the Data and Tools and Models sections.
• Data
  • Based on the risk assessment framework by the IPCC, data needed for physical risk assessment is organized into four broad categories:
    • Climate hazard data: data describing physical or transition risk drivers (e.g. wildfires, hurricanes)
    • Exposure data: data describing the exposure of goods or people to hazards.
    • Vulnerability data: data describing the vulnerability of exposed assets and systems.
    • Financial and economic data: data needed to translate climate-adjusted economic risk into financial risk.
  • 17 key climate hazards are selected to be focused on, based on the focus of private sectors such as Moody’s, Swiss Re, XDI, Aon. These hazards are organized into five categories (hot and cold, wet and dry, hurricanes and storms, ice and snow, coastal and oceanic) following the IPCC AR6 structure.
  • Each data wiki page includes a brief hazard description, observed and projected changes of the hazard under global warming, and its impact on various sectors. This is followed by a data section which lists the historical data, short-term to seasonal forecast, and long-term forecast, including guidance on downloading CMIP6 data.
• Tools and Models:
  • Open-source tools and models for analysis of physical risk are listed. For example, open-source catastrophe models, macroeconomic models, and online risk analysis portals are listed.

IV. Contributing to the Wiki

• Create Account: To contribute to the wiki, create an account by clicking the Request Account button at the top right.
• Adding or Editing Pages: Depending on the tier of users, registered users access additional features such as editing pages, adding content, and participating in discussions. See Governance section for more details. Make sure you follow the editorial guidelines for adding or editing pages.
• Uploading Datasets: Datasets and models relevant to climate risk analysis can be added, provided they meet the standards for data formats and open-source licensing.

V. Collaborating with the Community

• Discussion Pages: Each wiki page has an associated discussion tab where you can ask questions, provide feedback, and collaborate with other users.
• Feedback Mechanism: Registered and public users are encouraged to offer constructive feedback to improve the quality of content on the platform.
• Register for an Account: To edit pages or participate in discussions, register an account by selecting Request Account at the top-right corner.
• Contributions: Contributors can add datasets, tools, and methods following the open-source guidelines, ensuring all shared content remains accessible and compliant with licensing terms.

VI. Licensing and Attribution

• Open-Source Licensing: All content, including data and tools, is shared under an open-source license, ensuring transparency and accessibility for all users.
• Attribution: Make sure to properly credit original sources when using or modifying open-source content.
• Creative Commons License: All content is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, which allows you to freely use, share, and adapt the material with proper attribution.

VII. Staying Updated

• Recent Changes: View the latest edits and contributions by clicking the Recent Changes link on the sidebar.
• Watchlists: Use the Watch feature to follow specific pages or topics and receive notifications when changes are made.

VIII. Help and Support

• Help Pages: Visit the Help section for detailed information on how to contribute, navigate, and use the wiki effectively.
• Contact Us: If you encounter issues or need further assistance, use the Contact Us link to reach out to the support team.