Inclusion and classification criteria
The Inventory includes studies that make plausibly causal claims about the effect of a policy or program on climate-related damages and socio-economic outcomes. Specifically, it focuses on studies that can isolate the effect of the program from other factors that might also affect the climate-outcome relationship. For example, every year heat-related mortality rises as summer months experience unprecedented high temperatures. A growing number of studies show that interventions like heat warnings and action plans can help mitigate the health effects of this extreme heat.
The main criteria of inclusion are:
- The study evaluates how a specific solution lowers the impact of climate shocks.
- The study uses statistical approaches or research designs that plausibly isolate the causal effect of the policy solution from other confounding factors. Approaches include randomized controlled trials and quasi- or natural experiments based on observational data.
- Solutions may be explicitly climate-focused (e.g., drought-tolerant seeds) or indirectly related to climate sensitivity (e.g., improved health care access), provided there is evidence that they reduce the welfare cost of climate risks or events.
Studies are characterized based on Carleton et al. (2024) and highlight the primary sector of the outcome studied, including:
- Agriculture (e.g., crop production, varietal selection, and livestock)
- Cross-cutting (e.g., income, consumption, education, expenditures)
- Health (e.g., mortality, public safety)
- Housing (e.g., housing availability, housing values)
- Labor (e.g., labor productivity, labor supply)
Studies may cover only a subset of a population or region and can contribute to multiple sectors or multiple types of solutions.
Known limitations
Coverage is limited to studies with identifiable causal designs. Descriptive or correlational studies are not included.
Some studies focus not on whether a solution reduces climate damages, but instead on whether it improves welfare, regardless of whether a specific weather event occurred. These studies are included only if there is strong prior evidence that these interventions work at reducing climate damages (e.g., constructing a seawall).
Many studies investigate policies that lower damages from short-run weather risk, but are not able to study how the efficacy of such policies may change under long term climate change. It is possible that gradual climate change could either amplify or constrain policy effectiveness. These studies are therefore most relevant for informing near-term climate resilience solutions.
References
Carleton, T., Duflo, E., Jack, B.K. and Zappalà, G., 2024. Adaptation to climate change. In Handbook of the Economics of Climate Change (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 143-248). North-Holland.
Carleton, T., Duflo, E., Jack, B.K. and Zappalà, G., 2025. Adapting to climate change and building resilience in developing economies. Working paper prepared for the IMF-FCDO Conference: Lower Income Countries Navigating Global Change: Insights and Policy Directions from Macro Research for Development, Washington, DC, 13–14 November 2025.