15. Korea, Rep.
> Overall index score: 67.2
> Vulnerability score: 0.38
> Best dimension: Ecosystem Services
> Readiness score: 0.73
> Best readiness dimension: Social Readiness
> GDP per capita: $42,336 – #23 highest out of 182 countries
> Population: 51,836,239 – #28 highest out of 182 countries
In August, Seoul was stuck with the heaviest rainfall in 115 years. The rainfall caused blackouts and landslides, inundated roads and subway systems, and killed several people in the northern part of the country. Following the extreme weather event, government officials implemented a $1.15 billion, 10-year plan to build six huge underground tunnels to capture rainfall during heavy deluges and release it after the rains subside.
14. Canada
> Overall index score: 67.5
> Vulnerability score: 0.30
> Best dimension: Human Habitat
> Readiness score: 0.65
> Best readiness dimension: Governance
> GDP per capita: $46,064 – #19 highest out of 182 countries
> Population: 38,037,204 – #38 highest out of 182 countries
“Canada’s climate is already changing,” declares the Government of Canada’s website. Extreme weather events and rising sea levels are expected to hit Canada hard due to its 115,600 miles of coastline, the longest of any country in the world. But flooding isn’t the only major global warming threat to Canada. Like the western United States, western Canada is susceptible to an increase in the frequency of wildfires attributed to rising temperatures and drier conditions.
13. Australia
> Overall index score: 68.5
> Vulnerability score: 0.32
> Best dimension: Human Habitat
> Readiness score: 0.69
> Best readiness dimension: Governance
> GDP per capita: $48,679 – #17 highest out of 182 countries
> Population: 25,693,267 – #55 highest out of 182 countries
Australia, the world’s largest exporter of black coal, iron ore, alumina, lead, and zinc, important ingredients in global industrial activity, is susceptible to the effects of global warming. Climate change is bringing greater risk of floods, droughts, wildfires, and drier weather during the winter and spring to the heavily-populated southern and eastern parts of Australia.
12. Luxembourg
> Overall index score: 68.6
> Vulnerability score: 0.30
> Best dimension: Human Habitat
> Readiness score: 0.67
> Best readiness dimension: Governance
> GDP per capita: $112,557 – #1 highest out of 182 countries
> Population: 630,419 – #159 highest out of 182 countries
Like its neighbors, this tiny, affluent, landlocked European country is expected to experience an increase in heavy precipitation events, especially during the winter months, along with higher summertime temperatures that will tax the country’s electrical grid.
11. United Kingdom
> Overall index score: 69.4
> Vulnerability score: 0.30
> Best dimension: Human Habitat
> Readiness score: 0.68
> Best readiness dimension: Governance
> GDP per capita: $42,821 – #22 highest out of 182 countries
> Population: 67,081,000 – #22 highest out of 182 countries
The warming of the Atlantic Gulf Stream, a vital current that delivers warmer waters (which are becoming increasingly warmer) from the Caribbean Sea into the North Atlantic, will continue to impact weather patterns in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and other European countries most affected by this current. Like Continental Europe, the U.K. is expected to experience hotter summers and milder, wetter winters, marked with more cold-weather flooding like the one caused by Storm Barra that slammed into Ireland and the U.K. in December.
