CommunicationPublished on 10 January 2023

SDC Climate foresight analysis: Global and regional risks and hotspots, Update 2023

The climate foresight report provides the SDC directorate and SDC units with information on climate-related risks that might influence the programmes and strategic work within SDC's priority countries and regions. It analyses these risks with regard to regional stability and socioeconomic development, water, food, energy, and health, with a focus on short- and medium term projections of 1–3 years. The focus of the climate foresight report is on human systems. Interlinkages of climate with biodiversity and ecosystem services are not extensively addressed, but are mentioned where relevant, e.g. through their effects on food systems. This update reanalyses the previous climate foresight report, and incorporates recent developments and newly published scientific insights. Given that climate-related risks not only depend on the climate but to a large extent on exposure and vulnerabilities of people and ecosystems, on the ability to address those risks, and on other non-climatic drivers, the foresight report also considers a broad range of non-climatic factors. The first climate foresight was published in early 2020, followed by an update in 2021. This report is an updated version as of 2023 with a thematic focus on energy, where extreme climatic conditions interact with non-climatic factors such as the war in Ukraine to impact the global energy system.