On 5 October 2026, climate adaptation experts from Germany and Malaysia met online to exchange experiences on climate risk and vulnerability assessments (CRVAs) for national adaptation planning. Both countries shared their approaches to a common challenge: making climate risk information useful for the people and institutions deciding how to adapt. Germany offered insights from its long-standing CRVA experience, while Malaysia shared how it establishes a structure under MyNAP.
The exchange took place under the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Readiness project National Adaptation Plan for Malaysia (MyNAP), implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, together with local partner Malaysian Green Tech & Climate Change Corporation (MGTC), and technical assistance from the NAP Global Network. Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) supports MyNAP through the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA) is a knowledge partner to MyNAP, contributing its long-standing experience in adaptation planning.
In this joint article, we share some takeaways from this peer exchange.
Bringing Agencies and Evidence Together
A clear message from UBA was that climate risk assessments depend on governance as well as science. Dr. Inke Schauser explained how Germany brings government authorities and scientific experts together to contribute data, assess risks and develop a shared understanding of where action is needed. The task is to produce findings that are credible, understandable and used in policy decisions.
Malaysia shared its own approach through Dr. Zulfaqar Sa’adi, representing the national CRVA expert team from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). His presentation outlined Malaysia’s assessment framework, progress across priority sectors and practical challenges, including data gaps and coordination between agencies.
MyNAP makes an important contribution by bringing key agencies and technical experts together in sectoral technical working groups. These cover water and coastal resources, agriculture and food security, cities and infrastructure, public health, and forestry and biodiversity. Bringing climate data, sector knowledge and policy needs into the same process helps build ownership and ensures that the assessments address real planning questions.
Learning Through Repeated Assessments
Germany has completed two comprehensive national assessments in this series: the vulnerability assessment in 2015 and the Climate Impact and Risk Assessment in 2021. UBA is preparing the next assessment for 2028/29. This experience offers useful insights for Malaysia as it institutionalizes its own assessment process.
The lesson is that a risk assessment needs to evolve. New information on climate hazards and scenarios, changing exposure and vulnerability, and experience with adaptation measures all affect how risks are understood. Germany refined its methodology between the 2015 and 2021 assessments and is updating its analytical foundations for the next round. Regular review helps keep the evidence relevant to decisions.
Choosing Where Action Is Most Urgent
Cornelia Rietdorf from UBA showed how assessment findings feed into Germany’s adaptation planning. Germany focuses action planning on priority climate risks with the most urgent need for action and prioritizes measures that effectively reduce those risks, helping keep them manageable. Measures with wider benefits, such as nature-based solutions that maintain ecosystem services, also have an important role. Clear responsibilities, agreed methods and participation by relevant actors are essential to putting these priorities into practice.
To prepare Malaysia’s sectoral representatives for what comes after the CRVA in the country’s NAP process, Krystel Montpetit from the NAP Global Network presented an outlook on identifying and prioritizing adaptation measures under MyNAP, connecting assessment findings with the next steps in the national adaptation planning process.
A Partnership for Practical Learning
Germany’s experience with repeated assessments and Malaysia’s work to establish a coordinated national framework provided complementary perspectives. Continued exchange with UBA can help MyNAP draw on international lessons while developing approaches suited to Malaysia’s institutions, sectors and priorities.
For adaptation planners, the key insights are practical: bring the relevant agencies together, make the findings useful for decisions, revisit the evidence as conditions change, and focus action where it is needed most.