CSE has created this map based on data in, A Well-Adapted UK, a report from the Climate Change Committee.
The data is based on the idea that vulnerability to climate hazards varies across places. To understand this variation, a range of social and economic indicators are combined to summarise overall vulnerability.
When the indicators are combined, this shows how the characteristics of people and their local community can affect how badly they’re impacted during a flood or heatwave.
This isn’t about the hazard itself, but how vulnerable people are to harm if they come into contact with the hazard. The level of vulnerability will depend on social and economic factors.
We can use this data to compare geographical areas to each other. This helps understand which neighbourhoods are more or less vulnerable, and where action is most needed.
For the map, we’ve made a scale that goes from one to five. A score of one shows lower overall vulnerability to a hazard and a score of five shows higher vulnerability.
Source: Sayers et al. (2025) Spatial indicators of vulnerability to climate related hazards in the UK.