Assessing climate vulnerability in China's industrial supply chains: A multi-region network analysis approach

The extreme weather caused by climate change can easily impact the supply chain network (SCN) of industrial sectors, and its direct effects can spread along the SCN to other regions, thereby indirectly affecting the normal production and transactions of industrial products. This study integrates multi-region input-output analysis (MRIO), complex network analysis, and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution based on entropy weight method (TOPSIS-Entropy) to systematically assess the climate vulnerability of industrial sectors in 31 provinces of China from the perspective of SCN. The results reveal that, in resource-intensive industrial sectors, provinces exerting significant influence on SCN are mainly those rich in natural resources or those achieving economic development despite a lack of resources. These provinces exhibit relatively high climate change vulnerability index (CCVI). In contrast, for manufacturing sectors, the influential provinces on the SCN are primarily those with robust economic growth and substantial trade flows. These provinces display relatively high CCVI. Based on these findings, provinces should develop climate change management plans for industrial supply chains, implement demand-driven inventory strategies in resource-scarce areas, create collaborative platforms to enhance supply chain reliability, and establish mitigation measures for key manufacturing and resource-exporting provinces to manage risks and minimize the impacts of climate change effectively. • Extreme weather impacts industrial supply chains significantly. • Study assesses climate vulnerability in 31 Chinese provinces. • Resource-rich provinces show high climate vulnerability. • Manufacturing hubs display high climate vulnerability.