Managing Disaster Risk Through Climate Uncertainty
Learn how to navigate climate uncertainty, assess disaster risk, and make more informed decisions to strengthen organizational resilience.
Modules/Weeks
Weekly Effort
Discipline
School
Format
Cost
Course Description
Course Format: 3 Modules | Total Estimated Effort: 1.5 Hours
As climate-related disasters become more frequent and more complex, organizations are increasingly being asked to make important decisions despite significant uncertainty. As a result, disaster risk management is no longer the responsibility of emergency managers alone. It is now an essential leadership capability for anyone responsible for strategy, operations, infrastructure, investment, or organizational resilience.
Drawing on disaster management, public health, strategy, and risk analysis, this course introduces practical tools and methods for managing uncertainty, assessing hazard exposure, and using data to support more informed decisions. Through real-world examples and case studies, you'll explore how organizations can better understand risk, strengthen resilience, and prepare for an increasingly unpredictable future.
This course is ideal for:
- Leaders and decision-makers across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
- ESG, strategy, and investment professionals managing climate-related financial risks.
- Managers of essential services, utilities, and physical assets exposed to increasing environmental hazards.
- Government officials and policy analysts working in urban planning, emergency management, or international development.
- Sustainability and impact professionals seeking to integrate climate adaptation and resilience into organizational strategy.
- Professionals interested in how businesses and governments use data to better understand and respond to complex environmental risks.
Whether you're shaping organizational strategy, managing critical infrastructure, or planning for long-term resilience, you'll leave this course with a broader understanding of risk and greater confidence in making decisions in the face of uncertainty.
Course Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course.
It is designed as an accessible introduction for professionals seeking to better understand climate uncertainty, disaster risk, and organizational resilience.
What You Will Learn
Climate-related disasters are creating new challenges for organizations across every sector. This course equips you with a structured understanding of how uncertainty influences climate and disaster risk, along with practical tools for assessing hazard exposure and supporting better-informed decision-making in an increasingly unpredictable world.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Describe the uncertainties associated with climate change and disaster management.
- Discuss strategies and techniques for managing uncertainty in organizational decision-making.
- Identify the key components of climate and disaster risk, including hazard exposure and vulnerability.
- Utilize data sources to better understand hazard exposure and assess risk holistically.
- Module 1: Climate Risk & Uncertainty Management
Explore why uncertainty is an inherent part of climate and disaster management and how organizations can make better decisions despite incomplete information.
- Understand the sources of uncertainty in climate risk.
- Explore strategies and tools for managing uncertainty.
- Learn approaches for supporting decision-making in uncertain environments.
- Module 2: Hazard Exposure and Climate Risk
Learn how climate and disaster risk are assessed by examining hazard exposure, vulnerability, and resilience through real-world examples and data-driven analysis.
- Understand the relationship between hazards, vulnerability, and risk.
- Examine case studies of hazard exposure and climate risk.
- Explore how data supports risk analysis and resilience planning.
- Module 3: Summary
Bring together the key concepts and approaches explored across the course and reinforce the foundational principles of climate-related risk management.
- Review the core concepts introduced throughout the course.
- Connect uncertainty, hazard exposure, and resilience into a broader understanding of organizational risk.
- Reflect on how these approaches can inform future decision-making.
Instructors
Jeff Schlegelmilch is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice in Climate and Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Columbia Climate School. His work focuses on disaster preparedness, public health, community resilience, and helping organizations make better decisions in the face of uncertainty.
Drawing on experience across academia, government, and the private sector, he has advised leaders on preparedness systems, resilience planning, and risk management, helping organizations navigate increasingly complex and interconnected risks.
His work bridges research and practice, helping organizations translate data, strategy, and risk analysis into practical approaches for understanding hazard exposure, strengthening resilience, and supporting organizational decision-making.
Jeff is the author of Rethinking Readiness: A Brief Guide to Twenty-First-Century Megadisasters and co-author of Catastrophic Incentives: Why Our Approaches to Disasters Keep Falling Short, both published by Columbia University Press. He is also an opinion contributor to The Hill and a frequent media commentator on disaster preparedness and resilience.