Climate change risk and decision-making

Highlights

Climate change has created a wide range of uncertainties and risks that will strongly impact the built as well as the natural environment. There is a need to address these risks appropriately, effectively and to an applicable timetable at all levels of governance; and especially within those occupations and professions that invest in, develop, design, manage and regulate the built environment. This requires the development of new skills and understanding in the sector, including learning from other disciplines that are currently working on risk analysis, preparation and prioritisation, and who have already developed language, abilities and techniques to describe, categorise and quantify risk in order to make well-informed decisions and take necessary action. Climate change risk is a system problem that exhibits many features of interconnectedness and interdependency, requiring multidimensional analysis ranging across the spectrum from high-probability–low-impact risks to low-probability–high-impact ones. This editorial, referencing the learning described in the papers and commentaries in this special issue, calls on those within all areas of the sector to urgently map a way forward to establish responsibilities and responses for understanding, advising on and addressing climate risk to and resulting from the built environment as it varies across the planet. This will require changes to education, qualification, professional practice, and the information and tools available to practitioners. The relative lack of research and guidance on the subject within the field means this is a pressing task for the sector and a significant challenge to all involved.