Meeting the global challenge of adaptation by addressing transboundary climate risk

The briefing argues that climate adaptation is currently undervalued and incorrectly viewed as a local problem, which hinders global ambition. It proposes a 'transboundary' approach to climate risk, recognizing that impacts in one country create risks in others through trade, biophysical flows, people, and finance. The authors review progress from COP23 and suggest that the Paris Agreement's mechanisms—such as the global stocktake and National Adaptation Plans—should be operationalized to track and manage these cross-border risks to avoid 'climate change contagion' in the global economy.

• The authors argue that the prevailing view of adaptation as a local problem limits the ambition of the global adaptation agenda, despite the Paris Agreement's goal to treat adaptation 'in balance' with mitigation.
• Climate risk is described as 'borderless' because impacts in one nation can create risks in others via four primary pathways: trade (supply chain disruptions), biophysical (transboundary ecosystems), people (migration and tourism), and finance (overseas investments and remittances).
• The document identifies a risk of 'climate change contagion' where the failure of adaptation in some regions destabilizes international supply chains, financial systems, and shared ecosystems to the disadvantage of all countries.
• The authors recommend that the IPCC and the adaptation community develop a shared, consistent terminology to distinguish between global-scale risks, regional-scale risks, teleconnections, and the effects of adaptation responses in one place on another.
• The briefing suggests that the UNFCCC's global stocktake should be expanded beyond aggregating national contributions to include data on transboundary climate risks and regional or global adaptation responses.
• The authors highlight that transboundary risk assessments have primarily been conducted by developed countries, particularly in Europe, which incorrectly frames the issue as a rich-country problem despite high exposure in developing nations.

APA

Benzie, M., Adams, K. M., Roberts, E., Magnan, A. K., Persson, Å., Nadin, R., Klein, R. J., Harris, K., Treyer, S., & Kirbyshire, A. (2018). Meeting the global challenge of adaptation by addressing transboundary climate risk. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/meetingtheglobalchallengeofadaptation.pdf

Chicago

Benzie, Magnus, Kevin M. Adams, Erin Roberts, Alexandre K. Magnan, Åsa Persson, Rebecca Nadin, Richard J.T. Klein, et al. Meeting the global challenge of adaptation by addressing transboundary climate risk. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2018. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/meetingtheglobalchallengeofadaptation.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{benzie2018meeting, author = {Benzie, Magnus and Adams, Kevin M. and Roberts, Erin and Magnan, Alexandre K. and Persson, Åsa and Nadin, Rebecca and Klein, Richard J.T. and Harris, Katy and Treyer, Sébastien and Kirbyshire, Amy}, title = {{Meeting the global challenge of adaptation by addressing transboundary climate risk}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2018}, month = apr, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/meetingtheglobalchallengeofadaptation.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }