PVCCI: Physical Vulnerability to Climate Change Index

The Physical Vulnerability to Climate Change Index (PVCCI) measures geophysical climate risks and country exposure to climate shocks. It is a structural index built for 191 countries, with a disaggregated version calculated at the subnational level. The index is designed to be used in defining a multidimensional vulnerability index for international policy.

Use Cases

• Prioritizing international climate aid based on structural physical vulnerability scores.
• Analyzing subnational heterogeneity in climate risk exposure for territorial analysis.
• Informing the construction of a multidimensional vulnerability index for international policy.
• Assessing long-term country risk from exogenous climate factors independent of national policy.

Strengths

• Covers 191 countries, providing a broad international scope.
• Includes a subnational disaggregated version for granular territorial analysis.
• Has been calculated and updated since 2001, indicating a longitudinal series.
• Peer-reviewed methodology published in Ecological Economics (2020).

Limitations

• Specific column names and dataset structure are not provided in the metadata.
• Conflicting license information: one source lists GPL 2.0+, another lists none.
• Row counts and file sizes are unknown across all sources.

Provenance

Source

FERDI (Fondation pour les études et recherches sur le développement international)

Collection Method

Calculated index based on exogenous geophysical factors.

Time Range

Data series from 2001 onward.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05

Geography

Global coverage for 191 countries, with subnational data.