Australia’s first Climate Risk Assessment confirms we’re in for more frequent and more extreme climate hazards. Ten years on from the Paris Agreement, Australia and governments around the world are still kicking the climate action can down the road.

Australia’s climate risk assessment

The government published Australia’s first National Climate Risk Assessment in September 2025. While it is eminently readable, it is far too long and detailed for me to summarise so I’ll limit myself to highlighting a couple of features.

Australia is likely to experience more frequent and more extreme climate hazards, with an increase in concurrent and cascading climate emergencies, often in new locations and at new times of year. Historical patterns of extreme weather events will be poor indicators of future risk. Extreme weather will create severe problems across Australia with some communities (e.g. disadvantaged households, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, very young and very old people, people with existing health problems and outdoor workers) being most vulnerable.

States and territories will be exposed to different risks and impacts:

Heatwaves (brown thermometer in the map) will be more common across northern Australia and vector-borne diseases such as malaria (blue virus) in the southern mainland states. Sea level rise (grey arrows) will be greater along the east coast, crop yields (green tractor) lower in the southern mainland states, and loss of coral reefs and marine biodiversity (orange coral) greater in Queensland and WA. Damage to ecosystems........

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