Clarifying vulnerability definitions and assessments using formalisation

This research paper introduces a formal framework to resolve conceptual confusion regarding vulnerability to climate change by using formalisation to make the structure of definitions and assessments explicit.

• The paper presents a formal framework of vulnerability to climate change developed through formalisation, using mathematics to identify common structures across various definitions and assessments, though it is presented via diagrams for non-mathematical audiences.
• Operational definitions for assessing vulnerability are categorized into three distinct types: evaluating harm for projected future evolutions, evaluating the current capacity to reduce harm, or a combination of both.
• The framework reveals a lack of systematic relationship and a mismatch between theoretical definitions of vulnerability and their operational definitions, a gap that the author states was not made explicit in previous work.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2013). Clarifying vulnerability definitions and assessments using formalisation. https://www.sei.org/publications/clarifying-vulnerability-definitions-and-assessments-using-formalisation/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Clarifying vulnerability definitions and assessments using formalisation. 2013. https://www.sei.org/publications/clarifying-vulnerability-definitions-and-assessments-using-formalisation/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Clarifying vulnerability definitions and assessments using formalisation |date=31 January 2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/clarifying-vulnerability-definitions-and-assessments-using-formalisation/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2013clarifying, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Clarifying vulnerability definitions and assessments using formalisation}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/clarifying-vulnerability-definitions-and-assessments-using-formalisation/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }