This tool is designed to help users to assess communities’ vulnerability to climate hazards such as flooding and extreme heat. The tool compiles census data for indicators such as housing quality, unemployment rate, and average education levels (amongst others) to analyze the vulnerability of a given community to climate change. The tool also provides an index or score of socio-economic vulnerability for each census-defined small area within a region of interest. These data can be used in tandem with assessments of bio-physical impacts from climate change or can be used as a standalone resource to inform decision-making. The data provided by this tool allows users to better understand climate change risks for a given community, and to compare risks across regions using an easy-to-use map interface. The tool is intended to support decision-makers in municipal government and in industry sectors such as transport, water and agriculture, to assist both effective climate change adaptation and a just transition
The tool is an easy-to-use interface which creates maps that can be understood by all users. that have basic coding skills to make use of the free codes on GitHub.
However, a higher degree of coding skills in R language will be necessary if users wish to adapt the tool to add additional or higher resolution data that is specific to their area.
Cork is using the SVI Tool in combination with other REACHOUT tools, and as part of its statutory obligations to develop and implement a Local Authority Climate Action Plan on an annual basis.
Milan is using the SVI tool to identify areas of high vulnerability population densities and combining the social vulnerability output maps with heatmaps from the Thermal Assessment Tool.
Logroño is using the tool to better identify and define neighbourhoods of high social vulnerability with regards to heat and flood hazard. Additionally, Logroño is interested in combining the social vulnerability output maps with the Thermal Assessment Tool heatmaps, to understand its heat-related risk and implement targeted solutions.
You can find the REACHOUT city-hub cases described in this Jupyter Book.
Users proficient in the coding language R will be able to update and edit the datasets to implement this tool in their chosen area, with the most current information available. We estimate that this should take no more than 2 days of work.
The code to amend this tool is completely open source and available on GitHub, and when completed the user guide will also be freely available
The tool can be used in the following Triple-A phases:
The link to the tool and detailed user guidance are available here.
Denise McCullagh
denise.mccullagh@ucc.ie
UCC
An overview of the methodology:
Fitton, JM, O’Dwyer, B, Maher, B (Forthcoming) ‘Developing a social vulnerability to environmental hazards index to inform climate action in Ireland’. Irish Geography, 54(2), 157-180 (available upon request).
Publications:
McCullagh, D., Cámaro, W., Dunne, D., Nowbakht, P., Philips, C. & Cumiskey, L. (2025) Development of a Social Vulnerability Index: Enhancing approaches to support climate justice. MethodsX (Submitted).
Dunne, D., Walther, C., & McCullagh, D. (2024). Characterisation of Social Vulnerability to the environmental hazard of heat in Milan, derived from national census and EU Copernicus datasets (1.0.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13894260
Dunne, D., Camaro, W., & McCullagh, D. (2024). Characterisation of Social Vulnerability to the environmental hazard of heat in Logroño, and the surrounding La Rioja region in Spain, derived from national census and EU Copernicus datasets. (1.0.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13909225
Dunne, D., Camaro, W., & McCullagh, D. (2024). Characterisation of Social Vulnerability to the environmental hazard of flooding in Cork City and County, Ireland, derived from national census and EU Copernicus datasets. (1.0.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13913850
Cámaro García, W., McCullagh, D., Dunne, D., Gannon, C., Phillips, C. & Cumiskey, L. (2025) The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) Tool Handbook. Jupyter Notebooks. (In Preparation).
This tool can be used effectively in combination with several other REACHOUT tools to better understand climate change impacts and risks. For instance, the social vulnerability index (SVI) can be incorporated into damage model layers of the FloodAdapt Tool or in the Dynamic Adaptation Policy Pathways (DAPP) generator, and with the Crowdsource module to inform adaptation planning decisions of local government. Additionally, the social vulnerability maps regarding the heat hazard can also be integrated with the heatmaps developed by Tecnalia to better visualize the risk.
During an extreme rainfall event, Jan watches in fear as water rises dangerously close to flooding his apartment. His experience highlights the urgent need for climate adaptation in Gdynia, inspiring the community to take action and build a more resilient future together.
