Consultation during the design phase of CoastAdapt revealed that different organizations are at different stages in their adaptation journey, due mainly to resource (both human and financial) constraints. Recognising this, CoastAdapt includes guidance and support for a three-tier risk assessment process with increasing degrees of complexity and resource needs. A first-pass risk assessment is a quick and straightforward way to get an overview of exposure to climate change risk and can be undertaken by a small in-house group using published information on climate change. A second-pass risk assessment takes a standard risk assessment approach and uses national data and locally available information and expert knowledge to identify how climate change may increase existing risks or create new ones. A detailed (third pass) vulnerability assessment is appropriate where the first- and second-pass assessments indicate locations or sectors at high risk.

We present and discuss the rationale for the three tiers of risk assessment with some examples. We then review nationally available datasets in Australia relevant to coastal risk assessment and discuss how they may be applied. A framework for identifying where more detailed data is needed is presented.