Novel readiness index for climate change adaptation in Québec

This research develops and applies a novel Readiness Index for climate change adaptation in Québec's agricultural sector. The Readiness Index comprises the adaptive capacity score and the climate score. To derive the adaptive capacity score, literacy and poverty rates for six regions of Québec were obtained from Statistics Québec (ISQ) and Québec's Ministry of Agriculture (MAPAQ). The climate score data on annual precipitation, annual temperature and freezing degree days from the CMIP6 shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP3-7) were sourced from Ouranos. All data spanned across 1991-2024. The climate data underwent normalisation to render the climate variables comparable and easily integrated into the model. An interpolation technique was employed to estimate the missing adaptive capacity data (literacy and poverty rates). The Readiness Index combines normalised climatic and adaptive capacity data. The results indicate disparities among regions, with southern or central and more urbanised areas demonstrating higher readiness levels due to greater access to economic resources, higher climate literacy, better infrastructure, institutional support and diversified economies, in contrast to the northern and resource-dependent or peripheral regions.