After an unseasonably hot early May week in Vienna, the European Geoscience Union (EGU) General Assembly has come to a close, gathering more than 19,000 scientists, practitioners, and policymakers from around the globe. Themes of vulnerability, compounding risk, and systemic transformation took centre stage, reinforcing the need for grounded, science-informed resilience-building. Alliance colleagues from Z Zurich Foundation, IIASA and Concern share their reflections on this year’s General Assembly.
From hazards to resilience: strengthening the foundations
Building on its long-standing commitment to evidence-based resilience programming, the Alliance played a key role in shaping EGU discussions. Alliance colleagues co-convened a high-profile session on resilience building – examining systems-based assessments, frameworks, and tools and featuring global experiences that bridge theory and practice.
Speakers underscored the shift from resilience as ‘bouncing back’ to ‘bouncing forward’, emphasizing the need for transformative actions that not only recover losses but also catalyze long-term socio-economic development and positive systemic change. Alliance research highlighted deep interconnections between resilience and broader domains such as social sciences and public health.
A standout theme was the growing relevance of ‘polycrisis’ – the convergence of environmental, political, and socio-economic stressors, and how to reflect these dynamics in both data systems and decision-making frameworks. The session made a compelling case for the resilience dividend approach: building evidence for the long-term value of investing in resilience, even in the absence of disasters, to guide planning and funding by governments, NGOs, and donors.
Science for policy: bridging the gap
Science-policy integration was a strong theme at EGU25, with sessions like “Science for Policy 101” and “Science and Climate Litigation” highlighting how researchers can engage more effectively with policy and legal processes. The Alliance’s work on disaster forensics (Post-Event Review Capability), scenario-based recovery, and the Climate Resilience Measurement for Communities resonated strongly with calls to embed preparedness and resilience thinking into policy frameworks. New initiatives like the Science4Policy Competency Framework and the EIPM Community of Practice signal growing momentum toward a more structured, science-informed policy landscape.
Adding further depth to these discussions was a Splinter Meeting that focused on the use of conceptual models to build risk storylines. Participants explored how tools like causal networks and impact chains can structure complex, multi-hazard scenarios to support clearer risk communication and inform preparedness through more navigable, data-driven planning.
Nature-based solutions and emerging data innovations
Sessions on Nature-Based Solutions highlighted both the ecological and socio-economic dimensions of resilience. Particularly compelling was research on the impact of climate change on wild bees and pollination services, modelling future changes in key ecosystem functions under different climate scenarios. With agriculture a major livelihood source in many of our focus regions, preserving pollination services is directly relevant to food security and community resilience.
Innovative approaches to hazard detection and classification were another highlight. A session on Rainfall Nowcasting with Commercial Microwave Links demonstrated how unconventional data, such as signal disruptions from mobile phone towers, can be harnessed to predict rainfall with notable accuracy. This method holds particular promise in data-scarce regions, aligning with our focus on applying appropriate technologies for early warning systems in low-resource settings. Complementing this, the Hazomes framework introduced a novel way to classify Earth’s regions by their multi-hazard profiles, providing a valuable tool for identifying shared vulnerabilities and enabling risk-informed restoration strategies across similar hazard zones.
Systemic perspectives on multi-hazard events
The multi-hazard agenda at EGU25 reflected a growing recognition of risk as a systemic issue, moving beyond modelling hazard interactions to consider how vulnerabilities evolve and socio-economic factors shape exposure. Highlights included a global forensic analysis of past multi-hazard events, which challenged hazard-centric risk management approaches, and the unequal burden of multi-hazard exposure, showing that lower-income populations face disproportionately higher risks.
The Alliance also contributed critical perspectives on people-centred early warning systems, based on a recent publication, that critically examines the widespread but often uncritical use of the term multi-hazard in the early warning domain—arguing that current practices often focus on multiple single hazards rather than their interactions.
Looking ahead: from evidence to action
EGU continues to be a space where geoscience, policy, and practice converge. From debates on climate litigation and adaptation limits to new tools for measuring resilience and strengthening early warning, the message was clear: integrated, evidence-based action is more urgent than ever.
As the Alliance expands its footprint across hazards, contexts (like our urban-focused work), and geographies (with additional Alliance country programs), we will continue to contribute research while being informed and inspired by results, convening voices, and promoting tools that bridge the gap between risk and resilience. Whether through new models, community-led pathways, or science-policy collaborations, the Alliance remains committed to turning knowledge into action.
Visit our EGU25 event page for more on the Alliance’s participation at EGU.