Journal of Geography  & Natural Disasters
Open Access

Abstract

Evaluating the Local Climate Impacts Profile Tool for Assessing Local Impacts of Extreme Weather Events

Annika Carlsson-Kanyama and Kristina Blennow

The climate change adaptation tool Local Climate Impacts Profile (LCLIP), developed and previously widely used in the UK, was systematically evaluated in terms of its transferability to Sweden and its usefulness as a catalyst for awareness-raising and action with respect to climate change adaptation. The tool includes scoping, media trawl, interviews and reporting and was applied in three Swedish municipalities. It was found that after some adjustment, the tool can be applied successfully under Swedish conditions. The municipalities involved found the results useful for stimulating local adaptation work. However, the municipalities concluded that LCLIP is primarily a beginner’s tool that can be applied at a low cost and that other, more costly investigations on vulnerability to extreme weather typically need to be conducted for successful adaptation to climate change at municipal level. An advantage of the LCLIP tool is that it involves civil servants from all departments in the municipality and thus the resulting vulnerability discussions also involve departments dealing with ‘soft’ issues, such as administration and care.