Viner, DEkstrom, MHulbert, MWarner, NKWreford, AnitaZommers, Z2020-04-012020-01-282020-01-282020-01-161530-261XKZ0NX (isidoc)https://hdl.handle.net/10182/11676This article sets out the current conceptualisation and description of risk used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It identifies limitations in capacity to reflect the dynamic nature of risk components, and the need for standardisation and refinement of methods used to quantify evolving risk patterns. Recent studies highlight the changing nature of hazards, exposure and vulnerability, the three components of risk, and demonstrate the need for coordinated guidance on strategies and methods that better reflect the dynamic nature of the components themselves, and their interaction. Here, we discuss limitations of a static risk framework and call for a way forward that will allow for a better understanding and description of risk. Such advancements in conceptualisation are needed to bring closer the understanding and description of risk in theory with how risk is quantified and communicated in practice. To stimulate discussion, this article proposes a formulation of risk that clearly recognises the temporally evolving nature of risk components.8 pagesen© 2020 The Authors. Atmospheric Science Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the Royal Meteorological Society.climate changedynamic changeIPCCriskJournal Article10.1002/asl.958ANZSRC::040104 Climate Change ProcessesANZSRC::040102 Atmospheric DynamicsANZSRC::050101 Ecological Impacts of Climate Change1530-261XANZSRC::3701 Atmospheric scienceshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Attribution