Extreme weather events, such as heat waves, are occurring more frequently and intensively, imposing new climate-adaptation demands on municipal planning. We conducted a design study across the domains of urban planning and urban climate research, and identified challenges regarding a lack of heat-related information in current planning processes, and the high complexity of effective climate data representation. To address these challenges, and so enhance the information flow between these domains, we developed Urban Climate InteracTable, an immersive interface that supports exploratory analysis of spatio-temporal climate simulation data integrated with an urban environment representation. We describe several use cases in which this interface can be utilized to assist with planning-related decision processes and to communicate heat-related phenomena. We present the feedback obtained from our collaborating domain experts and relevant external experts, and reflect on our experiences throughout the design study. From this, we offer insights for future research.

Official enviroment and climate aid has increased in recent decades (Brodén Gyberg & Fridahl 2025). This type of aid aims to address climate change, strengthen resilience, reduce vulnerabilities, and combat poverty. However, challenges such as donor fragmentation, lack of coordination, misalignment of objectives, and insufficient localization hinder its effectiveness (Janus et al 2015, Reckien et al 2023, Schipper et al 2020). In some cases, ODA can lead to maladaptation, exacerbating vulnerabilities rather than alleviating them. Although challenges exist, the use of integrated approaches can contribute to policy coherence, sustainability and effectivness, limiting adverse unintended consequences (Persson 2009, England et al 2018). Swedish aid authorities have integrated environment and climate, conflict, and gender into its aid operations for decades, an ambition that was sharpened in 2015. We present work in progress based on an analysis of Swedish climate adaptation aid in Eastern Africa, exploring the preconditions for governing complexity and fostering transfomative adaptation through the use of integrated approaches. We analyze how the ambitions for integrating cross-cutting issues are framed and legitimized in central policy documents and how aid practitioners navigate the opportunities and challenges with these ambitions. 

The heightened awareness of heat wave impacts in high-latitude cities, particularly after the record-hot summer of 2018, highlights the need for improved understanding of heat waves and Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects. This study focuses on the interaction and future change of heat waves and UHI across southern Sweden under three specific warming levels: 0.9 °C (historical), 2 °C, and 3 °C. We utilize the HCLIM43-AROME convection-permitting regional climate model at 12 km and 3 km resolutions, and the SURFEX land surface model at 300 m resolution, employing a pseudo-global warming approach over target summers (2017, 2018 and 2022) representing different climates. Our results indicate that the UHI effects are well captured by model simulations. The nocturnal UHI weakens under climate change (assuming no changes in urbanization or greenhouse gas emissions) but intensifies (0.5 °C to 1 °C) during heat waves. During heat waves, higher sea level pressure, radiation and sensible heat flux contribute to enhanced urban warming due to higher thermal inertia. The nocturnal UHI is further accentuated by lower wind speeds and cloud fraction (indicative of weaker advection), lower moisture flux, and decreased soil moisture (associated with reduced evaporation) in urban areas during heat waves. These nuanced findings provide valuable insights for local heat stress adaptation strategies, with future research needed on the impacts of urban expansion.

Despite the importance of salient, credible, and legitimate climate information for climate action, studies demonstrate a persistent usability gap between the information provided and what users find relevant and useful. Drawing from scientific literature and our experiences working with a Swedish national climate service, we explore and reflect on challenges and barriers with climate services using an analytical framework of four pillars. Based on this, we provide four overarching recommendations (and fundamental needs): (i) Advancing data production and analysis, (ii) Establishing a climate service collaboration forum, (iii) Fostering active users, and (iv) Prioritising long-lasting funding. These recommendations are directed to policymakers and the climate service community to transition the production and use of climate information from short-term studies and initiatives to long-lasting processes. We argue that adopting these recommendations can support climate-resilient development through strengthening climate service infrastructure and enhancing capabilities and skills of the actors involved.

This study investigates the potential relevance, usefulness, and usability of climate change projections for Swedish agricultural planning and management. Although research indicates the importance of specific users acting as knowledge brokers for climate information, there are knowledge gaps concerning agricultural extension officers’ use of climate information. Through a survey and stakeholder workshops, perspectives of Swedish agricultural extension officers on climate change projections were collected. The results provide insights into “what” information in climate change projections that is relevant and “how” climate information may be presented and used. Based on the analysis of the workshop dialogues, four themes outlining the “what” and “how” were identified: (i) a need for additional climate indicators for Swedish agriculture, (ii) the criticalness of temporal precision, (iii) trade-offs between providing precision and an overview, and (iv) a relevance – usability contradiction. These results inform the basis for ongoing research and practical applications focused on agriculturally tailored climate information, as well as the broader development of climate service methodology. The study reveals a latent demand for climate change projections among respondents, indicating a perceived relevance of information on future climates, but limited current use and usability among agricultural extension officers. The requisite for tailored climate indicators is clear – in this case, for Swedish agricultural planning and management – but critical usability challenges need to be addressed to move from providing relevant information to achieving actual usage that can enhance the climate resilience in Swedish agriculture.

This study explores features of food system transformations towards sustainability in the Farm to Fork Strategy in relation toperspectives of Swedish food system practitioners. Transformations towards sustainable food systems are essential to achievethe United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and the need for more sustainable food systems has been recognised in the European GreenDeal and its Farm to Fork Strategy. The Swedish ambition to act as a global leader in achieving the 2030 Agenda and theEuropean Commission’s aspiration for Europe to lead global food system transformations offer a critical opportunity to studytransformational processes and agents of change in a high-income region with externalised environmental and sustainabilityimpacts. Drawing on theories of complex systems transformations, this study identifies features of food system transformations,exploring places to intervene and examines the roles, responsibilities, and agency related to these changes. The resultsof this study provide three main conclusions highlighting (i) alignment of high-level policy and the perspectives of nationalpractitioners at the paradigm level, especially concerning how food is valued, which is a crucial first step for transformationalprocesses to come about (ii) a lack of clarity as well as diversity of pathways to transform food systems although commonobjectives are expressed, and (iii) governance mechanisms as enablers for a diversity of transformations. Moreover, theseprocesses must acknowledge the contextual and complex nature of food systems and the level of agency and power of actors.

Climate information is an important support for national adaptation plan processes, but there is at the same time a general desire that climate information should be more relevant and appropriate in relation to decision-making contexts. An initial step in such a development towards tailored climate information would be to understand the currently available climate indices, their defi-nitions and contexts. This study systematically reviews the scientific literature on climate indices and factors related to  specific climate impacts, and  in  this  way identifies currently available climate indices for Swedish forestry and agriculture. The identified indices are analysed relative to climate change impact categories from the vulnerability assessments and adaptation plans set out by the Swedish Forest Agency and the Swedish Board of Agriculture, to indicate development potentials and research gaps in climate indices. The review identifies 79 definitions of climate indices for forestry and 63 indices for agriculture in Sweden. The reviewed literature has employed or developed climate indices for only 11 of the 25 types of climate impact emphasised as important by the two sectoral authorities. Most of the climate indices identified have been adopted for use in modelling forest growth or crop growth and productivity. The results of the review found indices lacking for a substantial number of impacts that are relevant for Swedish forestry and agriculture. The study shows that scientific literature on climate indices to a very limited degree addresses the specific tailoring of climate indices. Potential reasons for the lack of climate indices are discussed, and the study suggests that there is a need to continue climate model development such that the models better represent relevant processes, to advance research on the co-design of indices together with sectoral stakeholders, and to enhance collaboration between adaptation, impact modelling and climatology research. The results of this study may be used in future research to analyse if and how the identified climate indices can be actionable for different stakeholders, and as a foundation to examine the demands and feasibilities of developing new tailored climate indices.   

Denna rapport syftar till att (i) redogöra för begreppet ’multipla naturhändelser’ och kunskapsläget kring interaktioner mellan olika naturhändelser, samt att (ii) fastställa vilka naturhändelser som är mest relevanta med hänsyn till beredskap och förmåga innanför Sveriges territoriala gränser. Översiktligt diskuteras dessutom förutsättningar för och behov av hantering av multipla naturhändelser. Rapporten innehåller en sammanställning av hur naturhändelser interagerar med varandra i vetenskaplig litteratur, en sammanställning av förekomst av naturhändelser i Sverige utifrån sekundärdata från myndigheter och en workshop med experter för att identifiera multipla naturhändelser med relevans för svenska förhållanden. Rapporten presenterar resultat från en första delstudie inom forskningsprojektet Effektiv hantering av multipla naturhändelser (EMMUNE), som finansieras av Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap (MSB) och Formas. 

Naturhändelser kan vara multipla på olika sätt. En primär naturhändelse kan direkt utlösa en eller flera andra naturhändelser. De sekundära händelserna kan sedan i sin tur orsaka ytterligare händelser, vilket skapar en kaskad av händelser. En naturhändelse kan också öka sannolikheten eller förutsättningen för en eller flera andra naturhändelser, exempelvis genom höga flöden eller långvarig torka. Det kan också inträffa flera naturhändelser som sammanfaller i tid och rum utan att händelserna är direkt relaterade till varandra. 

I rapporten redogörs för interaktioner mellan följande naturhändelser: jordbävning; tsunami; geofysiska jordrörelser och hydrologiska skred, ras och sättningar; vulkanutbrott; blixtnedslag; extremt höga respektive låga temperaturer; isstormar; översvämningar; torka; laviner; skogs- och markbränder; skadedjursangrepp; meteoriter; och geomagnetisk storm. En bedömning görs också av vilka naturhändelser som kan anses vara mest relevanta för Sverige i relation till vårt klimat och väder. Bedömningen grundar sig i litteraturstudien och det genomgångna materialet kring förekomst och magnitud och leder fram till att följande naturhändelser anses relevanta: laviner; kraftig vind; kraftig nederbörd; extrema temperaturer; blixturladdningar; översvämningar; ras och sättningar; torka; samt skog- och markbränder. De påverkas alla antingen direkt eller indirekt av klimategenskaper eller väderhändelser. Kunskapen om klimatförändringarnas påverkan på förekomsten av extrema väderförhållanden är varierande och innefattar olika grader av osäkerheter beroende av vilken typ av extremt förhållande det handlar om. I Sverige innefattar eller drivs multipla naturhändelser oftast av atmosfäriska eller hydrologiska händelser. De multipla naturhändelser som av experterna anses vara mest frekventa samt får allvarliga konsekvenser inkluderar antingen höga flöden eller skogsbrand i kombination med annan händelse. 

När det gäller kunskapsläget kring multipla naturhändelser visar litteraturstudien att det finns vetenskapligt stöd för en mängd olika interaktioner mellan naturhändelser. Experterna som deltog i vår workshop beskriver också att vissa naturhändelser, som exempelvis kustöversvämningar, oftast uppstår vid ”multipla” väderfenomen och att det finns många potentiella multipla interaktioner både kopplade till ett utgångsläge med långvarig torka och värme eller höga flöden i vattendrag. Sammantaget talar detta för att naturhändelser behöver betraktas mer utifrån ett multipelt perspektiv. Naturhändelser sker inte bara isolerat utan kan påverkas av eller påverka andra naturhändelsers förlopp, antingen genom ett direkt utlösande eller genom förändring av miljön som ökar sannolikheten för andra naturhändelser. I såväl forskning om naturhändelser och klimatförändringar som i forskning om hantering av naturhändelser har händelserna hittills främst betraktats en och en. 

Det genomgångna materialet indikerar inte att Sverige kommer att drabbas av några nya företeelser på nationell nivå, däremot är det troligt att frekvensen och magnituden för vissa av naturhändelserna kommer att öka i ett förändrat klimat. Det kan även finnas anledning att inkludera biologiska naturhändelser, såsom det gjordes i exempelvis MSB:s sammanställning av riskområden och scenarioanalyser (MSB 2015). 

För att öka medvetenheten om multipla naturhändelser beskrivs tre scenarier för multipla naturhändelser, 1. en situation med höga flöden i vattendrag där det oväntat inträffar ett kraftigt regn, 2. en situation med en torr sommar där det inträffar en värmebölja, och 3. en relativ nederbördsfattning senvinter och varm april med låg markfuktigheten där det uppstår en skogsbrand. Ett lågtryck drar sedan in som ger mycket kraftiga vindar varvid skogsbranden intensifieras och sprids. 

Redan när det gäller förekomst och omfattning av enskilda atmosfäriska eller hydrologiska händelser är det stora osäkerheter i befintliga prognoser och klimatförändringsprojektioner, även om det sannolikt kommer bli både starkare och mer frekvent förekomst av väderfenomen framgent. Att prognostisera och simulera multipla naturhändelser innefattar därmed ännu större osäkerheter. Beredskapen att hantera multipla naturhändelser kan gynnas av ett fortsatt fokus på konsekvensbaserade vädervarningssystem. Exempelvis att vid en period med höga flöden i vattendrag kunna informera att om detta fortsätter ökar risken för sekundära händelser exempelvis skred. Multipla naturhändelsers hantering skulle kunna underlättas genom att tillhandahålla information baserad på förutsättningar för olika naturhändelser på specifika platser, detta för att bedöma risken för sekundära naturhändelser under givna förutsättningar samt de möjliga konsekvenserna av multipla naturhändelser för en specifik plats. Det är därför viktigt att för de tänkta målgrupperna öka förmågan att kunna tolka sådan information och vädervarningar samt att målgrupperna i förväg haft möjlighet kartlägga tänkbara konsekvenser för olika naturhändelser så att behovet av insatser snabbare kan bedömas när en händelse inträffar.

Climate change adaptation measures and practices may induce fundamental changes i.e. transformations in socio-ecological systems. Adaptation that intentionally aims for transformation is often intended to increase benefits and synergies with other broader societal development goals such as sustainability. Adaptation measures also have possible unintended negative effects that, in the case of system transformations, may be difficult to reverse. This study seeks to identify characteristic features of the adaptation processes that may result in agri-food system transformations. We introduce an integrated framework to identify these features and ‘adaptation activity spaces’, and apply this framework to the Nordic context, analysing stakeholder interviews that integrated serious gaming. The results show how transformations may result from adaptation measures targeted towards climate risks with an objective of changing either current practices or surrounding supportive structures. This study addresses reasons why transformative adaptation is not occurring in Nordic agri-food systems and presents novel information that may contribute to policymaking and further research needs on transformations in relation to adaptation decision-making.

Global resource flows and indicators for emerging challenges relevant to the realization of sustainable development goals are of high interest for research on sustainable development and geopolitics. Such complex sets of information require advanced methodological approaches that enable effective communication of data and participatory data exploration. To address this need, we present ResFlow, an interactive web-based application for the visualization and exploration of flow data, in particular for analysing resource flows between countries. ResFlow visualizes resource flows to and from countries using 3D arcs and provides tailored interaction and filtering techniques to facilitate flexible exploration of the data at hand.