While no city is immune to the global impacts of climate change, some are better prepared than others. A report by AlphaGeo, a geospatial AI company, reveals which are ready to weather the storm and which aren’t. AlphaGeo analyzed 72 of the world’s largest cities through the lens of its Climate Risk & Resilience Index (CRRI), which separates raw physical exposure to climate hazards—such as sea level rise and extreme weather—from resilience-adjusted risk (RAJ). The company’s goal is “to reveal which cities are genuinely protected and which face a dangerous gap between their risk profile and their adaptive capacity,” according to the report.
Before we dive into the data, let’s break down what it all means. A city’s physical risk score measures its vulnerability to climate hazards on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 representing the lowest level of risk and 100 representing the highest level. Its RAJ score is the physical risk score adjusted downward to reflect adaptation measures already in place, such as resilient infrastructure, early warning systems, governance, and policy responses. The lower the RAJ score, the more resilient the city.
AlphaGeo also calculated each city’s adaptation rate. This is done first by calculating the adaptation delta (the difference between a city’s physical risk score and its RAJ score), then dividing the adaptation delta by the physical risk score and multiplying by 100 to express the reduction in risk as a percentage. If a city has an adaptation rate of 25%, for example, that means its existing adaptation measures reduce about 25% of its physical risk.
With all that said, here are the most and least climate-resilient cities AlphaGeo assessed. The full list is available in the report.
The most climate-resilient cities #
| City | Country | Physical Risk Score | RAJ Score | Delta | Adaptation Rate | | Chicago | USA | 12 | 8 | 4 | 33.3% | | Addis Ababa | Ethiopia | 15 | 10 | 5 | 33.3% | | Melbourne | Australia | 14 | 11 | 3 | 21.4% | | Barcelona | Spain | 17 | 11 | 6 | 35.3% | | Ankara | Turkey | 19 | 11 | 8 | 42.1% | | Buenos Aires | Argentina | 19 | 12 | 7 | 36.8% | | Paris | France | 15 | 12 | 3 | 20% | | Istanbul | Turkey | 20 | 13 | 7 | 35% | | Bogota | Columbia | 18 | 13 | 5 | 27.8% |
Source: AlphaGeo
The least climate-resilient cities #
| City | Country | Physical Risk Score | RAJ Score | Delta | Adaptation Rate | | Ahmedabad | India | 62 | 41 | 21 | 33.9% | | Hyderabad | Pakistan | 53 | 41 | 12 | 22.6% | | Multan | Pakistan | 46 | 38 | 8 | 17.4% | | Dhaka | Bangladesh | 60 | 36 | 24 | 40% | | Lahore | Pakistan | 46 | 35 | 11 | 23.9% | | Kolkata | India | 51 | 35 | 16 | 31.4% | | Faisalabad | Pakistan | 43 | 34 | 9 | 20.9% | | Karachi | Pakistan | 46 | 32 | 14 | 30.4% | | Chittagong | Bangladesh | 46 | 30 | 16 | 34.8% |
Source: AlphaGeo
Chicago proved to be the most climate-resilient city on the list, with a RAJ score of just 8. According to AlphaGeo, this city benefits from low coastal and tropical hazard exposure combined with robust urban infrastructure. Indeed, Chicago has invested heavily in adaptation efforts, including heat island reduction strategies, flood risk mitigation, and more. The city’s adaptation rate is relatively high at 33.3%.
Other cities best equipped to handle the impacts of climate change are concentrated in Europe, Latin America, and Africa. European cities such as Barcelona, Paris, and London illustrate the benefits of temperate climate geography and decades of investment in adaptation efforts, including urban resilience frameworks, heat action plans, and flood defenses. Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, so extreme heat poses a particular risk to these cities, as we saw this summer.
Moving on to the least climate-resilient cities, you’ll notice a clear trend. The nine highest-risk major cities globally are all in South Asia, and four are in Pakistan alone. Despite the heightened physical risk this region faces—particularly from extreme heatwaves, erratic monsoons, and rising sea levels—cities’ adaptation rates remain relatively low. The data immediately brings to mind a series of floods that devastated Pakistan during the 2025 monsoon season and killed more than 1,000 people.
AlphaGeo notes that these scores reflect city-level averages. “Climate risk can vary within cities, down to the neighborhood or street level,” the report states. The company has created a separate platform that allows users to explore any of these 72 cities in finer detail under a zero-commitment free trial.
As global temperatures continue to rise, understanding which cities are most vulnerable to climate hazards becomes more important by the day. Combatting this crisis will require both international cooperation and local action to adapt to a warmer world.