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Extracted Content

Climate and Natural Hazard Risk Assessment

A climate and natural hazard assessment is a systematic process to identify, evaluate, and understand the potential risks that climate change and natural hazards pose to a specific project and its functionality. This assessment considers observed and projected hazards, including extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, wildfires, tornadoes, and hurricanes, as well as long-term phenomena such as sea level rise. The analysis involves gathering data on the likelihood, severity, and timing of these hazards, using the IPCC’s emissions scenarios. Key elements of the assessment include evaluating the project’s exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability to these risks, as well as identifying the overall hazard risk levels. Climate risk emerges from the interaction of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. Hazards include climate-related physical events or trends that can cause damage or loss, while exposure encompasses the presence of assets, services, resources, and infrastructure that may be affected. For the purposes of this credit, natural hazards include drought, extreme heat or cold, flooding, hurricanes and high winds, hailstorms, landslides, sea level rise, storm surge, tornadoes, tsunamis, wildfires and smoke, and winter storms. For each identified hazard, the team must complete the climate resilience assessment template or an equivalent, documenting exposure, risk levels, and potential mitigation strategies.

Vulnerability is the tendency or predisposition to experience negative effects. It can include land use, public infrastructure, the burden of disease in the population, and previous exposure to hazards. A climate and natural hazard assessment evaluates the potential risks climate change and natural hazards pose to a project, helping to identify, analyze, and plan for these risks to protect the long-term safety, functionality, and resilience of infrastructure, communities, and ecological systems.

Identification of priority hazards Based on the assessment, project teams must identify at least two priority hazards by evaluating site-specific climate conditions, historical hazard data, projected future risks, and the building’s exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. The assessment should incorporate regional climate models, hazard mitigation plans, and available climate risk databases to determine the likelihood and severity of each potential hazard. Teams should also consider how local infrastructure, soil conditions, and water management systems may exacerbate or mitigate risks.

U.S. Green Building Council LEED v5 Reference Guide for Building Design and Construction, April 2025 Launch Edition 22