Transnational climate change impacts: An entry point to enhanced global cooperation on adaptation?

The document presents the Transnational Climate Impacts (TCI) Index, which measures country-level exposure to climate risks transmitted across borders. It identifies four primary risk pathways—biophysical, finance, people, and trade—and argues that globalization makes even wealthy, low-vulnerability countries susceptible to transnational climate shocks. The authors advocate for integrating these risks into national adaptation plans and UNFCCC processes to enhance global cooperation and adaptation finance.

• The authors identify four primary pathways through which climate risks are transmitted transnationally: the biophysical pathway (transboundary ecosystems like river basins and oceans), the finance pathway (capital flows and overseas assets), the people pathway (migration and tourism), and the trade pathway (global markets and supply chains).
• The TCI Index reveals that many countries not considered 'particularly vulnerable' to direct climate impacts are highly exposed to transnational risks, specifically noting the Scandinavian states, Germany, and the Benelux countries.
• The four highest-scoring countries on the TCI Index are located in the Middle East: the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Jordan.
• Factors that contribute to higher TCI scores include being a small country (such as Fiji or the Gambia), being landlocked (such as Armenia, Mauritania, Swaziland, or Tajikistan), or having high trade dependency (such as Thailand and Malaysia).
• Europe is the most heavily represented region among the top 30 countries on the TCI Index, with 30% of these being small European nations including Austria, Belgium, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal, and the Netherlands.
• There is limited overlap between the TCI Index and the ND-GAIN Country Index; only four countries from sub-Saharan Africa—Kenya, Liberia, Sudan, and Togo—appear in the top 30 of both indices.

APA

Davis, M., Benzie, M., & Barrott, J. (2016). Transnational climate change impacts: An entry point to enhanced global cooperation on adaptation? Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2016-TCI-insights-for-UNFCCC.pdf

Chicago

Davis, Marion, Magnus Benzie, and Julia Barrott. Transnational climate change impacts: An entry point to enhanced global cooperation on adaptation? Stockholm Environment Institute, 2016. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2016-TCI-insights-for-UNFCCC.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Davis |first1=Marion |last2=Benzie |first2=Magnus |last3=Barrott |first3=Julia |title=Transnational climate change impacts: An entry point to enhanced global cooperation on adaptation? |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2016 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2016-TCI-insights-for-UNFCCC.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{davis2016transnational, author = {Davis, Marion and Benzie, Magnus and Barrott, Julia}, title = {{Transnational climate change impacts: An entry point to enhanced global cooperation on adaptation?}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2016}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-PB-2016-TCI-insights-for-UNFCCC.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }