PERIL – Technology demonstrations for climate change risk management
Climate change risks affect a significant part of businesses and other actors in South Ostrobothnia, Finland. These actors need new solutions to manage and adapt to climate change and related risks. New digital technologies, especially artificial intelligence, open up new opportunities for developing systematic risk identification and management tools. There is a need in the South Ostrobothnia region for obtaining practical experiences from the technology demonstrations of such tools. The PERIL-project aims to solve this demand by developing practical demos and collecting experience from their use.
Based on the Fifth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the following concepts have been adapted as a reference framework for the PERIL-project:
Climate change risks are interpreted as a function of three factors:
(1) climate-related hazards;
(2) the exposure of humans and natural systems to these hazards;
(3) the vulnerability of humans and natural systems to these hazards.
IPCC proposes iterative risk management and processes involving cooperation between different types of actors as useful responses to tackling climate-related risks. In the PERIL-project, the implementation of the technology demonstrations and their piloting in South Ostrobothnia are planned based on this framework. The project team will develop and pilot technology demonstrations to explore innovative solutions such as artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and manage the risks of climate change in iterative and collaborative ways. Based on the findings of the pilots, a practical guide will be prepared for describing the use of artificial intelligence and other digital tools in the management of climate change risks.
The impact of the PERIL-project will be further enhanced by creating a roadmap that prepares businesses and other actors in South Ostrobothnia to manage climate change risks that are relevant to their activities. The roadmap will focus on risk management processes facilitated by digital tools and building cooperation between different types of actors.
The immediate impact of the project is that businesses (especially SMEs) in South Ostrobothnia will gain practical experience of new digital tools for identifying climate risks and thus can better adapt for upcoming changes in their operating environment such as advancing carbon neutrality. The targeted long-term effects of the project include an increase in practical risk management skills, a deepened awareness of potential climate change risks in the region, the breaking down of industry-specific “silos” for increasing cooperation in managing, adapting to and preventing climate change risks.
PERIL-project is coordinated by University of Vaasa and implemented from June 2023 to March 2025. Project manager is Associate Professor Juha Arrasvuori.