IntroductionClimate risks are becoming increasingly material for strategic decision-making, regulatory compliances, and value chain’s resilience in the automotive industry. Accordingly, Climate risk assessments have become a strategic imperative for leaderships at organizational level.MethodsThis study develops and applies a standards-aligned TCFD and ISO 14090/14091 climate risk assessment framework towards Indian automotive sector using capability-based maturity method and Delphi-MCDA Capability Maturity Assessment. A five-level capability decomposition (L1–L5) were operationalized across Strategy & Planning, Governance, and Climate-Related Compliance, supported with stakeholder-led expert engagements and multi-criteria decision analysis tools.Results67% of Strategy & Planning capability falls under the lowest maturity category, which indicate elevated exposure and reflects persisting constraints in integrating product life cycle, infrastructure planning for energy efficiency, and GHG strategy of suppliers. Governance capability exhibits higher maturity comparatively, functioning as a risk-stabilizing mechanism, although compliance-related risk remains prominent on domain such as EV battery recycling and exposure to environmental litigations. With more than 35 sub-capabilities, the intra-capability diagnostic and prioritization matrices identify critical gap in procurement strategies, integration of circular economy, and usage of sustainable materials.DiscussionThis study underlines the need for life cycle-based forecasting, resilience-centered capability building, and functional climate decision-making systems. It contributes to a scalable, replicable framework that allow OEMs and policymakers to identify, prioritize and manage climate as well circular economy risks, thus enhancing both practical and academic outcomes.