A standardised climate change hazard vocabulary for heritage

This dataset (.xlsx) is a vocabulary of climate change hazards for heritage. Hazards are the potential occurrences of natural or physical events that may cause damage or loss. Previously there had been no definitive list of climate hazards for heritage that were directly connected to changing climatic processes. This project addresses this gap by linking the created hazards to the Climatic Impact-Drivers (CIDs) produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The vocabulary consists of 52 primary and key related hazards for heritage. It is international in its remit.

The list will be published as a vocabulary on the Forum on Information Standards in Heritage (FISH) where it can be accessed in multiple formats including linked data. This .xlsx format places the hazards in relationship to each other and in their CID context. Candidate terms can be submitted to the research group Heritage Environmental Risk and Data Analytics herada@ucl.ac.uk (terms submitted to Terminologies@HistoricEngland.org.uk will be directed to the research group for approval). An accompanying Historic England Research Report provides more information, including the methodology of the project (available in both English and Welsh).

The authors are interested in hearing from users of the vocabulary, specifically those that link the hazards to observed impacts of climate change on parts of the historic environment. This dataset was produced as part of a funded 6-month project between Historic England and the UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage on developing a standardised vocabulary of climate change hazards for the historic environment. The Welsh version of the dataset was translated in 2025 by Lingo Soar, in collaboration with Fforest Fawr UNESCO Geopark, and as part of the UK National Commission for UNESCO's Climate Change and UNESCO Heritage project.