The Importance of Using Multiple Economic Analysis Methods on Climate Change Adaptation: A Pacific Case Study

What the paper says

Climate change poses various risks of flooding, extreme weather events, and sea level rise, that can systematically affect human society in the Pacific. Climate change adaptation is an important action design that can minimise climate change risks but requires a proactive approach with merging physical intervention options with economic assessment for decision making. Multiple economic methods exist to assess the economic efficiency of adapting to climate change. However, a research gap is that a comprehensive combination of multiple economic analysis methods urgently needed for feasibility and efficiency assessment of climate change adaptation options is still in its infancy in the literature. This research applies a desk-based, real-world case study in Kiribati, to test the feasibility of appraising climate change adaptation actions by using shortlisted Least-Cost Analysis, Cost-Benefit Analysis, and Multi Criteria Analysis methods for different data availability. The results of this research demonstrate the assessment methods that might be most useful for specific circumstances and the importance of combining different methods for comprehensive decision-making. Time frame is also an important impact factor that affects payoff periods, that could influence stakeholders’ attitudes or provide learning opportunities for climate change decision-making.