We're up and running!
The Climate Change Exchange has relaunched.
We’re thrilled to have relaunched the Climate Change Exchange (CCE) on September 4th 2025. We loved sharing this moment with you all, and hearing your perspectives, challenges and strengths. In case you missed it, the webinar recording is available here (passcode: 0pbmJh.o) and you can find a recap of what the CCE stands for in our first newsletter.
We heard that there’s great appetite for spaces to share insights, stay connected and learn together how to build our collective capability to adapt to climate change, including the skills and competences required to do adaptation well. You told us that you’d like these to be a mix of both online and in-person gatherings, and that you welcome the integration of arts, intersectionality and First Nations’ perspectives. You shared with us some of the challenges of resourcing, uncertainty, navigating siloes and lack of climate adaptation literacy, etc. You inspired us with your wide array of strengths and skills, ranging from cross-sector collaborations, creativity, systems thinking and knowledge, locally and community-led adaptation - and a sense of humour!
As we explained, this is a rapidly evolving initiative and we welcome your input. To share your talents and resources (including research) and be part of this growing community, please get in touch via the website.
We look forward to building our collective capacity to adapt to climate change together.
What we’re thinking about
As exemplified by the release of Australia’s National Climate Risk Assessment, climate change risk assessments are underway across the country - a vital step in kick starting, tracking and adjusting adaptation from the organisational to the national level. But doing such assessments well is far from straightforward. Expectations and standards around climate change risk assessments are evolving rapidly, expanding the number of factors (e.g. indirect climate change risks, social vulnerabilities) and voices (e.g. local community members) to be included, among other things.
At the same time, climate change risk assessments are increasingly being undertaken in situations themselves marked by the sort of pressures climate change exacerbates: limited time, resources and attention spans, constrained institutional settings, and complex, dynamic environments - including other people’s climate change responses. How to assess and reassess climate change risks in meaningful ways in such situations is far from easy.
What’s coming up
Next learning exchange: Doing climate risk assessment well
To help practitioners think through different approaches and to help researchers appreciate the practical realities of doing climate change risk assessments, the Climate Change Exchange invites practitioners, policy makers, and researchers into a nuanced conversation on Wednesday 19th November (between 1-2:30pm, online) about the challenges and opportunities of doing climate risk assessments well in Australia.
By sharing their recent, real world experiences, the panel will illuminate the decisions practitioners have to face along the way, such as how to: define goals, scope risks, balance hazard- and vulnerability-based approaches, incorporate different types of data and knowledge, and use the assessment process to engage stakeholders and build capacity.
More than a 101 on how to do a climate change risk assessment, this interactive online session will look at the challenges and opportunities involved. It will draw out the pragmatic and institutional factors that shape how assessments are undertaken and the pros and cons of different ways of tackling the task in order to help others reflect on and advance their own climate change risk assessment and reassessment efforts. We will make time to hear and learn from your experiences too, and highly welcome your rich perspectives.
Come along to the adaptive climate cafe
You’ve told us that you’d also like the opportunity to informally connect in person. Come and join us at Mr Tulk on Thursday 4th December at 9:30 am as we meet for coffee, share challenges, opportunities, and hopefully create a moral boost in your day!
We are stronger together. Get involved and share your talents and ideas with us.