Comparative analysis of climate change impact assessment frameworks for SMEs

This study presents a comparative analysis of ten climate impact assessment frameworks, focusing on their applicability, technical requirements, and capacity to support the climate risk management cycle in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Results indicate that while accessible and flexible frameworks, such as the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and the Indicator-Based Climate Risk Assessment (IBCRA), facilitate practical, scalable, and comprehensible integration of sustainability and climate risk into SME operations, more sophisticated frameworks, including Integrated Assessment Models (IAM) and Social-Ecological Systems (SES), provide analytical rigor and detailed scenario projections but face barriers due to complexity and high data requirements. Risk- and vulnerability-oriented frameworks, such as the Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Framework (RVAF) and the Climate Change Vulnerability Network (CVN), balance methodological robustness with practical applicability, particularly when combining vulnerability identification with collective learning and adaptive decision-making. The study contributes a critical synthesis of the capabilities and limitations of each framework and identifies gaps in guidance for sector- and context-specific SME applications. Moreover, findings offer actionable insights for SME managers and policymakers, supporting informed decisions and adaptive strategies that enhance organizational resilience to climate risks while remaining feasible within the resource constraints of SMEs.