Study on the Development and Application of a Climate Crisis Adaptation Index for Heat Waves

Background and objective: The increasing frequency of climate-related disasters underscores the need to enhance the response and adaptation capacities of local governments. Although local climate change adaptation plans are mandated in Korea, an urgent need exists for locally tailored measures. To address this gap, we proposed and piloted a "Climate Crisis Adaptation Index" as a tool to assess and enhance local climate risk management and adaptive capacities.Methods: The index was applied to 229 local governments to evaluate heat-wave-related risks. The final index was calculated by evaluating and synthesizing various indicators, such as damage, hazard, vulnerability, and adaptation implementation performance, after removing outliers.Results: The index captured regional performances in addressing climate risks. High-scoring areas exhibited reduced heat-related damage, fewer vulnerable populations, and more effective adaptation measures. Conversely, low-scoring regions were more vulnerable and lacked adequate adaptation efforts, highlighting the need for targeted policy interventions.Conclusion: The pilot application of the Climate Crisis Adaptation Index offers a robust evaluation framework for evaluating local adaptation to heat wave risks. It shows potential to guide the formulation of context-specific adaptation measures through continuous improvement research, systematic implementation monitoring, and broader engagement by local governments in climate change adaptation planning.