Exposure
According to the IPCC (2022), exposure is the presence of people; livelihoods; species or ecosystems; environmental functions, services and resources; infrastructure; or economic, social or cultural assets in places and settings that could be adversely affected.
Leeds is exposed to three climate-related risks: flooding, high temperature and air pollution -air pollution is directly related to high temperatures.
There are areas in the city that are more exposed to the risk of flooding
High temperatures risk
Urban Heat islands (UHI) are a phenomenon by which urban areas, particularly some areas, are much warmer than surrounding rural areas. Increases in temperatures due to climate change are likely to exacerbate the UHI effect (UHI) which can have adverse consequences for cities like Leeds because we have concrete sidewalks, asphalt roadways, glass, steel, all that increases the temperature of our city. The map above shows the UHI for individual LSOAs. This map shows the heatwave we had in July 2013. Red colours show hotter areas of the city.
Air pollution
Heatwaves and pollution episodes share common underlying meteorological drivers. Slow-moving high-pressure systems in summer accumulate pollutants and heat. High temperatures, low precipitation, strong sunlight, and low wind speeds allow heat and poor-quality air to stagnate in a given location for an extended period of time