Navigating the human impact of disasters: Introducing a new climate toolkit

Droughts, floods, storms, and heatwaves are no longer isolated events—they are reshaping how people live, work, and thrive. Beyond damaged roads or lost harvests, disasters leave scars on health, education, and livelihoods that can last for years. Until now, bringing together climate and human capital data to measure these impacts has been complex and fragmented.

That is why the World Bank has developed the Climate Effects Navigator Toolkit (CLIENT), a new interactive platform that helps policy makers, researchers, and World Bank teams analyze how weather shocks affect people and infrastructure—and where investments can make the greatest difference. By turning vast datasets into clear visuals, CLIENT makes it easier to design policies and operations that protect people today while building resilience for tomorrow.
 

1. Climate dashboard: Mapping shocks with precision

CLIENT begins with a detailed look at climate data, powered by the Climate Change Knowledge Portal (CCKP). It tracks six types of shocks—from droughts and floods to heat waves and hurricanes—using nearly five decades of data. Users can adjust parameters such as thresholds, time periods, or whether to measure impacts by land area or population. This flexibility allows them to explore the exposure, frequency, and severity of hazards at the subnational level. The result is an interactive map that highlights historical trends and identifies the districts most affected — providing an evidence base for targeted resilience planning. 

The Climate Dashboard maps areas affected by weather shocks, such as droughts or floods, and allows users to adjust parameters to see how impacts evolve over time.

2. Human Capital Dashboard: Putting people at the center

Disasters don’t strike evenly across populations. CLIENT overlays climate shocks with harmonized census microdata from Integrated Public Use Microdata Series(IPUMS) to show who is most vulnerable. Users can explore how a drought might affect school attendance, or how a flood could disrupt employment or access to electricity. By comparing before-and-after conditions, the dashboard generates detailed vulnerability profiles that highlight the populations most at risk—whether children, workers, or households with limited access to basic services.

This people-centered lens helps policymakers design responses that protect the most vulnerable and ensure resources are targeted where they can make the greatest difference. In doing so, CLIENT brings equity into climate resilience—helping countries prepare not just for the next disaster, but for a fairer and more resilient future.

The Human Capital Dashboard shows how shocks disrupt people’s lives—for example, school attendance, employment, or access to services—before and after disasters.

3. Operations Dashboard: Connecting data to action

CLIENT also helps translate data into decisions. The Operations Dashboard overlays World Bank project data with areas most exposed to climate shocks, offering a clear picture of how the portfolio aligns with vulnerability hotspots. This type of portfolio mapping allows World Bank teams to see where existing operations are already reaching affected communities—and where new climate-smart projects could be directed to fill gaps. By highlighting regions that are both highly exposed and under-served, CLIENT facilitates smarter investment decisions, ensuring resources are deployed where they are most needed. In doing so, it complements other World Bank mapping tools—such as those focused on poverty, risk, or infrastructure—by adding a critical layer of climate vulnerability and human capital impacts.

The Operations Dashboard overlays World Bank projects with disaster-affected areas, helping identify where investments align with vulnerabilities—and where gaps remain.

Behind the dashboards: A methodology built for scale

CLIENT is built on a comprehensive and transparent methodology that brings together nearly five decades of climatic data, six types of weather shocks, and more than 38,000 subnational territories across 243 countries. By combining climate records, census data, population information, and administrative boundaries, the toolkit harmonizes information that was previously fragmented and hard to use. With over 300 customizable parameters, users can adjust how shocks are defined—such as setting rainfall thresholds, deciding whether to measure impacts by land area or population, or choosing the time period for analysis—so the results reflect local realities.

The result is more than just numbers: CLIENT delivers maps, graphs, and tables that make complex data accessible, visual, and actionable. The toolkit has already been applied in practice, including to inform the Nigeria Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR), and to produce climate briefs for India, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Mauritania.

Explore the CLImate Effects Navigator Toolkit and watch the demo video to see how the dashboards bring data to life.

Source : World Bank