CA Assesses Social Vulnerability to Climate Change

Populations concentrated in Los Angeles and Orange, San Diego, and San Bernardino counties will be especially vulnerable to extreme heat days in the future, according to a new California climate change vulnerability analysis conducted by the Pacific Institute. Using 19 indicators such as climate impacts, childhood obesity, air conditioner ownership, and percentage of tree cover, the authors developed a “climate vulnerability index” to compare climate change and social vulnerability—susceptibility to harm from exposure to a hazard—in different regions of California. Their results can be easily viewed in an interactive map of social vulnerability organized by region.