Publications

Addressing the impacts of climate change through an effective Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage

Policy publication by Rebecca Byrnes, Swenja Surminski on 16 Oct 2019

This paper is a submission to the second review of the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) on Loss and Damage under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will take place at COP25 in December. The submission looks at the Loss and Damage policy debate, how it relates to other international frameworks and efforts in the areas of mitigation, adaptation, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development, and identifies how the WIM can be most effective. read more »


Submission to Call for Evidence on Flooding and Coastal Erosion by Defra

Policy publication by Swenja Surminski, Viktor Rözer, Sara Mehryar, Rebecca Byrnes on 9 Oct 2019

This paper summarises the Institute’s submission to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ call for evidence on policy direction to prepare the UK for flooding and coastal erosion, drawing on a decade of work by the Grantham Research Institute with the insurance industry and policymakers addressing issues around climate change and adaptation. read more »


Insurance as a catalyst for using climate risk information for government planning and decision-making: A framework for analysing drivers and barriers, tested against evidence emerging from Sub-Saharan Africa

Working paper by Swenja Surminski, Jon Barnes, Katharine Vincent on 8 Oct 2019

This paper from the UMFULA programme investigates the potential catalyst role of insurance in adaptation to climate change in a developing country context that is characterised by low insurance penetration and a relatively low level of government planning, analysing the problem from the perspective of insurers in South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania. read more »




Creating useful and usable weather and climate information – insights from Participatory Scenario Planning in Malawi

Working paper by Dorothy Tembo-Nhlema, Katharine Vincent, Rebecka Henriksson Malinga on 9 Sep 2019

This paper outlines experiences with Participatory Scenario Planning (PSP), which has been used in Malawi as a method to bring together producers and users of weather and climate information to co-produce sector-specific advisories of weather information to make it both useful and usable to the different user groups, including farmers. read more »


Cities, climate change and chronic heat exposure

Policy publication by Patrick Curran, Christian Siderius, Tanya Singh on 6 Sep 2019

Climate change will lead to increases in the occurrence of chronic heat exposure over longer durations and there is an urgent need to focus on managing the risks this poses, as well as the immediate risks from shorter-lived heat events. This policy brief looks at the problem with a focus on developing and emerging economies, and provides recommendations for action by government, utilities, property developers and investors, development support and finance organisations. read more »


From individual fuzzy cognitive maps to agent based models: modelling multi-factorial and multi-stakeholder decision-making for water scarcity

Working paper by Sara Mehryar, Richard Sliuzas, Nina Schwarz, Ali Sharifi, Martin van Maarseveen on 29 Aug 2019

The authors of this paper develop an integrated modelling methodology combining an Agent-Based Model with Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping and use it to simulate impacts of policy options addressing the problems of water scarcity for a farming community in Rafsanjan, Iran. read more »