How the Adaptation Stack works
A field guide to the data model behind the stack: what a category is, how solutions feed it, how the four resilience capabilities fill a glass, and how the climate hazards shape the view.
The bridge between the three working groups
01The three working groups answer three different questions. WG1 asks how resilient you are today. WG2 asks whether the case stacks up. WG3 answers the practical question that follows: what do you actually deploy, and where.
Assess
The Climate Resilience Maturity Assessment locates where the gaps sit: which hazards bite hardest and which capabilities are thin. It tells you where to look.
- 7 dimensions
- Hazard exposure
- Capability gaps
Decide
The Business Case frames the cashflow logic: how adaptation spend turns into avoided loss and retained value, through its value-logic framework.
- Value-logic framework
- Cashflow case
- Investment view
Apply
The Adaptation Stack is the catalogue of what to deploy: 26 categories, four capabilities, hazard glasses, mapped onto the value chain.
- 26 categories
- Four capabilities
- Hazard glasses
The catalogue: categories, not products
02The stack is built from four design principles. They explain why the cards group the way they do, how the underlying solutions feed them, and how a category is honestly described so it never oversells.
01Same pin schema across every categoryOne consistent set of attributes on every cardRead
Every category card carries the same set of attributes, so two cards can always be compared on the same terms. The card carries only:
- Type: the classification of the category.
- Capability: which of the four resilience capabilities it serves.
- Hazards: the union of the hazards addressed by the member solutions.
- Value-chain stages: where on the value chain it applies.
- Maladaptation: the known side effect to check, named in words.
- Solutions: a button opens the named solutions and providers right on the card, each with its CapEx, OpEx and payback band. You can read them without adding the category to your stack.
All category-level attributes are derived bottom-up from the member solutions, not authored on the category itself.
How it filters
You can filter the catalogue by Type, Capability, Hazard, and value-chain segment, and by the per-solution economics (CapEx, payback, maladaptation). The search reads all solutions, with name, provider, location and description, as well as the categories, and lists the matching solutions above the catalogue.
What the cost bands mean
CapEx intensity is the indicative upfront cost per site or deployment. Low: below about EUR 50k. Medium: about EUR 50k to 500k. High: above about EUR 500k. The CapEx filter reads "up to": choosing Medium also shows Low, because a medium budget also pays for a low-cost solution. OpEx intensity describes the running cost relative to CapEx: negligible, moderate or significant. Payback: a quick win returns within 12 months, mid-term within 1 to 5 years, long-term beyond 5 years.
All bands are estimates by solution type. They help you compare options and leave the exact figures to a quote.
02Built from named market solutionsEvery category is filled by named solutions in the marketRead
A category is never an abstract bucket. It is filled by named solutions drawn from the market: approx. 250 solutions sit behind the 26 categories. Each solution is a concrete offering with its own hazards, value-chain reach, economics, and maladaptation status.
Why it matters
Because the categories are built bottom-up from real solutions, the attributes on a card are evidenced rather than asserted. When you open a category, you can see the solutions that justify its capability and hazard coverage.
03Grey, Soft, Green classificationThree intervention types, one honest label per categoryRead
Each category is typed as Grey, Soft, or Green, so you can read at a glance what kind of intervention it is.
- Grey (15 categories): engineered, built infrastructure.
- Soft (7 categories): organisational, financial, and behavioural solutions.
- Green (4 categories): nature-based and ecosystem solutions.
The split across the 26 categories is 15 Grey, 7 Soft, 4 Green.
04Maladaptation, named in wordsThe side effect to check, shown on every cardRead
Maladaptation means a measure that solves one problem and can create another: it shifts risk elsewhere, locks in emissions, or creates a new dependency. Where such a side effect is known, the card and every solution behind it name it in words, for example "Rebound risk if AC capacity is expanded in parallel". A category with no known side effect says so, which reads as clean rather than as missing data.
The note is a question to raise with the provider. It says nothing about the quality of a provider.
How the rating is set in version 3.2
The rating is stored on each solution and uses two levels today, low and medium. It is an estimate by solution type, so the solutions within one category currently share the same rating. A review solution by solution is on the roadmap.
Currently flagged categories
Eight categories currently carry at least one flagged solution: cool roofs, district cooling, smart irrigation, atmospheric water generation, microgrid, parametric insurance, coastal nature-based solutions, and urban green.
05Key termsThe ten words the tool uses, in plain languageRead
- Solution
- One real product or service on the market, for example a specific flood barrier or an early-warning service.
- Category
- A group of solutions that do the same job in the same way. You build your stack from categories; the solutions sit inside.
- Classification
- The kind of solution: Green (nature-based), Grey (engineered) or Soft (organisation, process, finance). Based on ISO 14092.
- Capability
- The part of the resilience cycle a category serves: Foresight (see it coming), Prevention (reduce the damage), Continuity (keep running), Recovery (get back on your feet).
- Hazard
- A climate threat: flooding, heat, heavy rainfall, storm, drought, wildfire.
- Value chain
- Where in your operation a solution applies, from raw materials to products, plus facilities and critical infrastructure.
- Glass
- One glass per hazard. It fills 20% for each capability you cover, up to 80%. The top 20% stands for your own judgment on depth, sequence and fit.
- CapEx intensity
- Indicative upfront cost per site or deployment. Low: below about EUR 50k. Medium: about EUR 50k to 500k. High: above about EUR 500k. The filter reads 'up to': Medium also shows Low.
- Payback
- Quick win: returns within 12 months. Mid-term: within 1 to 5 years. Long-term: beyond 5 years.
- Maladaptation
- A measure that solves one problem and can create another, for example cooling that raises energy use. The tool names the known side effect so you can raise it with the provider. It says nothing about the quality of a provider.
The same definitions appear in the tool: in the fold-out "Key terms" at the start, and as a mouse-over wherever a term is used.
The four resilience capabilities
03Every category serves at least one of four capabilities. Together they describe the full arc of resilience, from seeing a hazard coming to getting back on your feet after it lands. The capabilities are what the hazard glasses read.
FForesightSeeing the hazard comingRead
Foresight is the ability to anticipate a hazard before it lands: monitoring, early-warning, forecasting, and the planning that turns a signal into a decision.
How the glasses read it
Each distinct capability a category covers fills the hazard glass by 20 percentage points. Foresight is one of the four, so covering it moves a glass 20% toward the 80% cap. The top 20% is deliberately left open: it stands for the portfolio judgment the tool cannot grant automatically.
PPreventionReducing the damage the hazard can doRead
Prevention is the ability to blunt the impact before it occurs: hardening assets, flood defences, cooling, and the structural interventions that lower exposure and sensitivity.
How the glasses read it
Each distinct capability a category covers fills the hazard glass by 20 percentage points. Prevention is one of the four, so covering it moves a glass 20% toward the 80% cap. The top 20% is deliberately left open: it stands for the portfolio judgment the tool cannot grant automatically.
CContinuityKeeping operations running through the hazardRead
Continuity is the ability to keep operating while the hazard is present: redundancy, back-up supply, flexible routing, and the contingencies that stop a disruption from becoming a shutdown.
How the glasses read it
Each distinct capability a category covers fills the hazard glass by 20 percentage points. Continuity is one of the four, so covering it moves a glass 20% toward the 80% cap. The top 20% is deliberately left open: it stands for the portfolio judgment the tool cannot grant automatically.
RRecoveryGetting back on your feet after the hazardRead
Recovery is the ability to bounce back once the hazard has passed: rapid repair, financial buffers, insurance, and the responses that shorten the time to full operation.
How the glasses read it
Each distinct capability a category covers fills the hazard glass by 20 percentage points. Recovery is one of the four, so covering it moves a glass 20% toward the 80% cap. The top 20% is deliberately left open: it stands for the portfolio judgment the tool cannot grant automatically.
How WG2 connects: the business case
04WG2 and WG3 are two halves of the same decision. WG2 frames the cashflow case through its value-logic framework: how adaptation spend turns into avoided loss and retained value. WG3 provides the concrete how, the categories and solutions you would actually deploy to realise that case. Version 1 of the stack does not tag each category to a specific value logic; that linkage is on the roadmap.
How WG1 connects: the resilience assessment
05WG1's seven resilience dimensions locate where the gaps sit; the stack helps you close them. Per-dimension filtering is not in version 1, but the assessment still points you to which hazards and capabilities to prioritise, which is exactly how you would narrow the catalogue down to the categories that matter for your operation.
How the glasses fill
06Two simple rules turn a category's capabilities into the hazard glasses you see on the cards. Both are deterministic, so the same inputs always produce the same view.
■The water-glass fillHow one hazard glass reaches its levelRead
For a given hazard, the glass fills 20 percentage points for each distinct capability the category covers against that hazard. All four of Foresight, Prevention, Continuity, and Recovery together bring the glass to 80%.
The formula
fill_pct(h) = (distinct capabilities covered for h) × 20, capped at 80
The glass caps at 80%, and that cap is visibly marked on the card. The top 20% is deliberately left open: it represents the portfolio judgment, the depth, sequence, and fit for the specific operation, that the tool cannot grant automatically. A full-looking glass therefore means "all four capabilities are present", never "nothing left to decide".
■The all-hazard fillHow the glasses read across the six hazardsRead
A category can apply to several hazards at once. The all-hazard view runs the same 20%-per-capability rule independently for each of the six hazards, so each hazard gets its own glass and its own 80% cap.
The stack shows a glass for every hazard you picked, and a category you add fills only those glasses. With no hazard picked, the tool shows all six glasses and a category fills every hazard it addresses.
How to read it
Comparing the glasses across hazards shows where a category is strong and where it is thin: a category may bring all four capabilities against heat yet only one against flood. The pattern of fills, not a single headline number, is what guides the portfolio judgment.
Seven value-chain segments
07Every category is mapped onto the value chain, so you can see where in the operation it applies. The stack uses seven segments, from the raw materials that come in to the finished products that go out, plus the critical infrastructure an operation depends on.
The six climate hazards
08The stack reads everything through six climate hazards. Each category gets its own glass per hazard, so the same catalogue can be filtered to the threats that matter most for a given operation.