The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defined climate change vulnerability as the degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change. This definition appeared in the Third Assessment Report published in 2001.
African American populations faced double the mortality rate of the average population during a heat wave in Los Angeles California during 2006. Emergency department visits also spiked for Asian Pacific Islander and African American groups during that same period.
Developing countries tend to be more vulnerable to climate change than developed nations due to lower adaptive capacity and unstable growth compared to well-developed support systems. Approximately 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in contexts highly vulnerable to climate change as estimated in 2021.
Social dimensions such as wealth, employment, and access to technology form political institutional economic and social structures that interact with physical climate changes. Poverty governance challenges and violent conflict increase vulnerability levels in certain locations where smallholder farmers pastoralists and fishing communities face higher risks.
Global indices like the ND-GAIN Country Index measure national climate vulnerability across different regions while the World Bank commissioned reports for Fiji covering the entire country during 2017-18. The Climate Vulnerable Forum represents an organization dedicated to addressing these disparities through international cooperation and policy frameworks.