Research on Climate Resilience Assessment and Enhancement Strategies for Hebei Province in Response to Climate Change

Abstract

Enhancing climate resilience is imperative for cities to mitigate the effects of global warming and the rising frequency of extreme weather events. This paper develops an evaluation index system for urban climate resilience in Hebei Province, based on data from 11 cities within the province. It evaluates the levels of climate resilience and identifies their limiting factors using the entropy weight method, an urban climate resilience assessment model, and an obstacle degree model, with a focus on four dimensions: ecological resilience, economic resilience, social resilience, and infrastructure resilience. The results indicate that (1) spatial variations in climate resilience across cities in Hebei Province are minimal, with the majority of cities exhibiting climate resilience levels within the moderate resilience category. (2) The majority of regions display low ecological and infrastructure resilience (0.1–0.3), while economic resilience is distributed across three tiers, with regional variations; social resilience remains moderately resilient (above 0.3). (3) Among the social resilience factors, C3 and C8 exhibit the highest obstruction levels, emerging as key barriers. (4) In order to effectively respond to climate change risks and challenges in a scientific manner, differentiated implementation of climate response strategies, the core of which lies in identifying the dominant vulnerability dimensions of different cities and accurately applying policies, such as Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Xingtai, Handan, and other cities with fragile ecological resilience, should comprehensively deepen the construction of sponge cities to alleviate urban flooding and the heat island effect.