Linking climate extremes, attribution, and loss and damage responses: A conceptual framework

Linking climate extremes to observed losses and damages is critical for understanding risk and guiding loss and damage responses. I present a conceptual framework, grounded in social and sustainability sciences, that integrates climate extremes, attribution, observed impacts, and responses into a common analytical framework. A visual schematic illustrates causal pathways through exposure, vulnerability and risk to realised losses and damages. The conceptual framework highlights both formal, institutional responses and informal everyday, and resistance responses. Feedback loops connect outcomes to core system elements, supporting pathways toward sustainable societies. This framework accommodates compound events, slow-onset change, multi-scale dynamics, and both economic and non-economic losses, offering a flexible analytical framework for systematic analysis, co-produced decision support, and bridging gaps between physical climate science and social science research.