Impact Trust • Working glossary

Strategic climate risk

Climate risk understood not just as direct physical impacts but as a strategic threat to institutions, economies, and societies – including cascading, compounding, and systemic consequences that can overwhelm response capacity.

Details

Our Take
The 'strategic' prefix signals institutional survival and societal stability, not weather forecasts. Elevates climate from an environmental issue to a strategic challenge - the core argument for why National Societies need to engage with polycrisis thinking.
Examples of Use
SCRI
Synonyms/Variants
Systemic Climate RIsk
Typical everyday wording
Climate change as a threat to whole institutions and societies