On the 1st of October, the CLIMAAX project is releasing a new and updated version of the climate risk assessment Handbook which is the core tool of the project. This release coincides with the start of the climate risk assessment work by the 32 participants funded under the first open call.

Within the new version of the Handbook, the Framework for climate risk assessment has been updated for increased clarity and user-friendliness. It now includes overview tables and practical guiding questions for users, as well as important information on how to do a climate risk assessment.

The Framework has been developed over the past eighteen months through an extensive desk review, incorporating state-of-the-art and best practices. This process also included detailed feedback from experts and aligning with regional needs. During this process our five pilot regions co-developed, evaluated, and applied the Framework, a process that was essential to ensure its usability.

All workflows in the CLIMAAX Handbook have been improved and have been extended with documentation of methodology and datasets, and illustrative examples. Workflow users now benefit from clearer guidance through the data processing and easier adaptivity of the workflow to the local conditions. The October release of the handbook also contains:

• Updated overviews of online resources for the implementation of quantitative climate risk assessment, including European datasets on hazards, vulnerability and exposure to compute risk
• Improved technical documentation to support the use of the computational Python tools on which the CLIMAAX workflows are built

All materials in the CLIMAAX Handbook are released publicly under open-source licenses for anyone to use and adapt. We celebrate this release as a significant step forward for the regional climate risk assessment. The development of the Handbook is continuing, and further updates will be supplied throughout the lifetime of the CLIMAAX project.

This will incorporate new developments in the space of climate risk assessment from the CLIMAAX partners, and the experiences from our Community of Practice.