Climate risk screening tools for low-emission energy development

Climate variability and change can pose risks to the integrity and performance of low-emission development (LED) investments, yet most LED planners don’t yet routinely consider the potential effects of climate on their programs and projects. Fortunately, a variety of tools have been developed in the past several years that planners can now use to determine whether, and to what extent, climate variability and change may impact their investments.

This paper introduces climate risk screening tools for new or existing energy programs and projects that can be applied by LED planners, as well as project investors and developers, to gain a preliminary indication of climate risks. It also provides a case example illustrating how risk screening helped managers in Vietnam improve the climate resilience of a hydropower energy project.