FAQ: What are climate risks?

Climate risks are the consequences we might experience as a result of climate hazards (the physical aspects of climate change that create problems for us).

More formally, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines climate risks as 'the potential for adverse consequences for human or ecological systems.'

What are the most significant climate risks for Aotearoa New Zealand?

That's the question the Commission tries to answer ever six years, when we provide national climate change risk assessments. These risk assessments look at the current and future risks the country faces from climate change, and advise government on the most significant risks.

Explore our first risk assessment, released in 2026. 

The difference between climate hazards and climate risks

Talking about risks related to climate change can prompt questions like, 'Will my home flood?', 'Will the next big windstorm close the road?' or 'Are we going to be hit by drought again?'.

These are important questions – but they are technically about climate hazards and exposure to those hazards, rather than climate risks.

Climate hazards are the physical elements of climate change that create problems for us. Climate risks are the consequences we might experience as a result of those hazards.

Risks combine three factors:

• Hazards are the physical events or trends that can impact people, the environment, or the economy. Examples include severe weather events, droughts, floods, sea level rise and wildfire.
• Exposure looks at whether the hazard reaches people, places or things.
• Vulnerability focuses on factors that determine how (and how much) people, places or things are affected. It considers sensitivity to the change, and also ability to adapt.