Systemic climate adaptation framework

The Stockholm Environment Institute's systemic climate adaptation framework provides a normative guide to make adaptation policy more coherent, equitable, and robust. It is built on three core pillars: systemic risk framing, policy interlinkages, and deep uncertainty management. These pillars translate into six guiding principles—interconnected by design, shared risk ownership, co-benefits and everyday value, no-regrets and anti-maladaptation, equity and just resilience, and adaptive governance under deep uncertainty. The framework is intended as 'adaptable scaffolding' for stress-testing decisions, such as national strategies or investment pipelines, rather than a rigid checklist.

• The framework is based on three core pillars: systemic risk framing, which views risks as interdependent dynamics rather than isolated hazards; policy interlinkages, which recognizes that adaptation is shaped by a wider web of public policies; and deep uncertainty management, which plans for shocks and tipping points that defy precise prediction.
• Systemic climate risks are characterized by their ability to compound with other climatic or non-climatic drivers (such as pandemics or conflict), cascade across different sectors (e.g., energy to transport), and transcend geographic boundaries through supply chains or migration.
• The framework identifies six guiding principles for systemic adaptation: ensuring interventions are 'interconnected by design', establishing 'shared risk ownership' across institutions, prioritizing 'co-benefits and everyday value', avoiding 'maladaptation' and risk-shifting, ensuring 'equity and just resilience', and implementing 'adaptive governance under deep uncertainty'.
• Effective systemic adaptation must address the political and structural drivers of vulnerability rather than treating it as a technical residual, ensuring that the most affected groups actively shape decisions and that resilience gains do not export risks to other regions or future generations.
• Managing deep uncertainty requires a shift from static planning to governance that emphasizes flexibility, precaution, and the ability to reorganize after shocks, specifically protecting against high-impact 'tail risks' and tipping points like large-scale ice-sheet loss or ecosystem collapse.
• The successful delivery of systemic adaptation depends on two cross-cutting enabling conditions: the availability of human and institutional capacity at local and frontline levels, and the alignment of funding and incentive structures to reward co-beneficial interventions over narrow, sector-specific projects.

APA

Mikaelsson, M. A., Crouse, C., Carr, E., & Klein, R. J. (2026). Systemic climate adaptation framework. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/sei-brief-may-2026-systemic-adaptation-framework.pdf

Chicago

Mikaelsson, Mikael Allan, Cynthia Crouse, Ed Carr, and Richard J.T. Klein. Systemic climate adaptation framework. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2026. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/sei-brief-may-2026-systemic-adaptation-framework.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mikaelsson |first1=Mikael Allan |last2=Crouse |first2=Cynthia |last3=Carr |first3=Ed |last4=Klein |first4=Richard J.T. |title=Systemic climate adaptation framework |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=May 2026 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/sei-brief-may-2026-systemic-adaptation-framework.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mikaelsson2026systemic, author = {Mikaelsson, Mikael Allan and Crouse, Cynthia and Carr, Ed and Klein, Richard J.T.}, title = {{Systemic climate adaptation framework}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2026}, month = may, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/sei-brief-may-2026-systemic-adaptation-framework.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }