UK 'must protect infrastructure from effects of climate change'

9 May 2011

Caroline Spelman MP said the country needed to plan for the impact that more extreme weather would have on essential services such as transport networks and power supplies; otherwise, she added, the economy could suffer.

The comments followed the publication of a government report that outlined the challenges facing the transport, energy, water and ICT sectors and set out the action needed from infrastructure owners and operators, regulators and government.

‘Our economy is built on effective transport and communications networks, and reliable energy and water supplies,’ said Spelman.

‘But the economy cannot grow if there are repeated power failures, or goods cannot be transported because roads are flooded and railways have buckled, or if intense rainfall or high temperatures disrupt Wi-Fi signals.

‘[Around] £200bn is expected to be invested in the UK’s infrastructure over the next five years. But if the facilities that support our society cannot cope with floods, droughts or freezing winters, then that money will have been wasted.’

She pointed out that infrastructure assets often had lives of 50–100 years and so needed designs that would cope with the dramatic changes in climate expected.

‘This presents great opportunities for British businesses to develop new technologies and processes in engineering, planning and consultancy, ICT-based technologies, renewable energy, investment and insurance,’ said Spelman.

David Nickols of the Engineering the Future alliance of professional bodies stated that the group welcomed the government’s recognition that infrastructure needed a systems-level approach to prevent disruption to one sector from causing cascade failures across others.

He added: ‘However, we must first determine what level of investment we are willing to make because the cost of providing “always-on” services will be high and it is the public that must absorb this cost in the long term.

‘It is important to recognise the difference between adapting networks to deal with long-term climate changes and trying to protect assets against all possible extreme weather events.

‘We need to strike a balance that means the least disruption to services possible within the economic constraints of the current investment climate.’

Actions identified in the report to prepare infrastructure for a changing climate included:

• Owners and operators of infrastructure should include measures to improve climate resilience in the maintenance schedules for their assets and ensure climate impacts are considered in the design of new infrastructure;
• Potential infrastructure investors should demand more information from companies on the climate risks to their assets and measures taken to reduce them as part of their ‘due diligence’ processes;
• Professional bodies should consider if their members have the right skills to help prepare infrastructure for climate change; and
• Engineers should look to develop new materials, techniques and designs to improve the resilience of infrastructure projects to severe weather.

The report, entitled Climate Resilient Infrastructure: Preparing for a Changing Climate, is the culmination of a two-year infrastructure and adaptation project led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

It will feed into the next updates of the National Infrastructure Plan and the National Security Strategy, plus the UK government’s first Adaptation Programme, which will set out the actions needed to prepare the entire country for climate change.