Illustrative: event footprints crossing a portfolio, losses rising and the exceedance-probability curve

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Course catalogue · Finance and Economics

Public Finance and Development Economics

Macroeconomics of climate and disasters

Macroeconomics of climate and disasters, taught twice over: as the working methods of the field and as its frontier since 2024, with labs on the Academy's tools, open data and the Nexus Standards.

Core course Frontier course

The discipline

01Core course · L2 Intermediate

Macroeconomics of climate and disasters: foundations and practice

This area covers how disasters and climate change affect growth, public finances, prices and monetary policy, and how macroeconomic models and fiscal frameworks represent them.

Level
L2 Intermediate
Study time
about 24 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
An L1 course in the area, or an entry review

Why now

NGFS scenarios now include short-term and acute-physical-risk variants, and the macroeconomic damage literature is in active dispute: estimates of climate damage to output differ by an order of magnitude, and one widely cited 2024 study has faced published challenges. Nature, The economic commitment of climate change (Kotz, Levermann, Wenz), 2024

Learning outcomes

  1. Define damage function and the other key terms of the discipline and use them correctly in a written case
  2. Explain disaster impacts on growth and recovery and climate damage functions and their uncertainty with a worked example and its source
  3. Apply the discipline's method to a documented case and explain each result with its source
  4. Analyse a named case against fiscal risk from disasters and contingent liabilities, stating evidence, date and limits

Modules

  1. Disaster impacts on growth and recovery
    • Disaster impacts on growth and recovery
    • Climate damage functions and their uncertainty
    • Fiscal risk from disasters and contingent liabilities
  2. Climate in debt sustainability analysis
    • Climate in debt sustainability analysis
    • Inflation and supply shocks from extreme weather
    • Central banks, climate scenarios and monetary policy
  3. Integrated assessment and macroeconomic models
    • Integrated assessment and macroeconomic models
    • Social cost of carbon
    • Small island and low-income economies under climate shocks
  4. Lab: the discipline's method
    • Integrated assessment models treat warming as a small loss in the level of output; panel evidence finds that temperature changes growth, hurting hot economies most; the choice between the two moves estimated damages by an order of magnitude and with them the social cost of carbon.
    • Work the method through a documented case and explain each result
    • Read the method's sources and stated values

Labs with Academy tools

Open data

Assessment

  • 40%Lab recordWork the discipline's method through a documented case and explain each result with its source and date
  • 40%Case memoApply the discipline's methods to a named place or organisation, stating evidence and limits
  • 20%Key terms checkShort answers on the key terms, marked against the definitions

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Intermediate, 4 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. Burke, Hsiang and Miguel, Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production, 2015
  2. Nordhaus, Revisiting the social cost of carbon, 2017
  3. Dell, Jones and Olken, What do we learn from the weather? The new climate-economy literature, 2014
02Live map

Hazards now in the Bay of Bengal

Flood water, active fires, heavy rain and smoke, beside where people live, over the Bay of Bengal.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 3

Hazards now

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Hazards now, framed on the Bay of Bengal.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · U.S. Geological SurveySources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • GPM IMERG precipitation, NASA Precipitation Processing System; distributed by the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
  • Live: U.S. Geological Survey Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; not a flood warning.
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (20 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
  • Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
  • Precipitation rate, daily mean: GPM IMERG, NASA GES DISC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Aerosol optical depth, daily: VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static

03How learning runs

How learning runs, as a process you can run

Select a scenario and press Play: course, pathway, practice, faculty, cells and record.

04What is changing

What is changing, with standards and evidence

Macroeconomics of climate and disasters: frontier methods

The methods, data, tools and studies that changed macroeconomics of climate and disasters between 2024 and 2026, taught by reproducing them on open data.

Level
L3 Advanced
Study time
about 28 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
Macroeconomics of climate and disasters: foundations and practice; Working knowledge of a scripting language (Python or R) for the labs

Why now

NGFS scenarios now include short-term and acute-physical-risk variants, and the macroeconomic damage literature is in active dispute: estimates of climate damage to output differ by an order of magnitude, and one widely cited 2024 study has faced published challenges. Nature, The economic commitment of climate change (Kotz, Levermann, Wenz), 2024

Learning outcomes

  1. Explain what changed in macroeconomics of climate and disasters since 2024 and cite the studies, data or rules behind each change
  2. Reproduce disasters and growth on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  3. Evaluate a 2024 to 2026 study: its question, data, method, limits and what it changes for practice
  4. Design an analysis that combines a frontier method with the faculty's instruments, and justify each choice

Modules

  1. Disasters and growth
    • Empirical evidence on output after cyclones and floods
    • Fiscal and debt dynamics after disasters
    • Recovery and reconstruction booms
  2. Climate damage functions
    • Panel econometrics of temperature and growth
    • Persistence of damages and why it matters
    • Model uncertainty and robustness checks
  3. Scenarios for policy
    • NGFS long-term and short-term scenarios
    • Country climate and development reports
    • Macro-fiscal stress testing
  4. Reproduction lab
    • Extend the discipline's method with one frontier method and compare its results
    • State the uncertainty and the limits of the result
    • Peer review against a shared checklist
  5. Technology that helps and the risks it carries
    • AI models, tokenisation and regulatory technology.
    • Model risk, cyber accumulation, exposure to quantum attacks on cryptography, and concentration on third-party cloud providers.

Labs with Academy tools

Open data

Assessment

  • 50%Method reproductionReproduce one frontier method on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  • 30%Study reviewA critical review of a 2024 to 2026 study: question, data, method, limits, what it changes
  • 20%Peer reviewReview two other learners' reproductions against a shared checklist

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Expert, 5 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. Nature, The economic commitment of climate change (Kotz, Levermann, Wenz), 2024 to check
  2. World Bank, Country Climate and Development Reports, 2025
  3. Burke, Hsiang and Miguel, Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production, 2015
  4. Nordhaus, Revisiting the social cost of carbon, 2017
  5. Dell, Jones and Olken, What do we learn from the weather? The new climate-economy literature, 2014
05Take part

Take part in the work

Start from who you are.

06Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is the course free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the course?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Damage function

A relationship between warming or hazard intensity and economic loss used in macroeconomic and integrated assessment models.

Term

Contingent liability

A fiscal obligation that arises only if an event occurs, such as reconstruction after a disaster.

Term

Fiscal space

The room in a government's budget to raise spending or cut taxes without endangering debt sustainability.

Term

Social cost of carbon

The present value of damage from emitting one more tonne of carbon dioxide.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

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