Infrastructure
Useful sources of information on climate change adaptation for the Infrastructure sector.
Infrastructure (general)
The Adaptation Reporting Power, introduced under the Climate Change Act 2008, is designed to ensure that organisations responsible for vital services and infrastructure are making progress to assess their climate risks and adapt accordingly. 91 key infrastructure providers were asked to submit adaptation plans during 2011, including:
- National Grid - gas and electricity
- Environment Agency
- Natural England
- Water companies
- Economic regulators
- Road and Rail authorities
- Port authorities
- Airport authorities
- Lighthouse authorities
The submitted adaptation plans are available to download, along with further information and guidance for reporting authorities.
"Infrastructure, engingeering and climate change adaptation: ensuring services in an uncertain future" published in 2011 by the Royal Academy of Engineering on behalf of Engineering the Future, examines vulnerability to climate change in energy, transport, communications and water infrastructure, and the modifications that would be needed to increase resilience. The report argues that investment in engineering efforts to protect infrastructure is essential both to minimise climate change risks to infrastructure, thereby protecting the public and the economy, and to maximise opportunities for the profession and the economy in developing cost-effective and marketable solutions to adaptation needs. The report also considers vulnerabilities that affect the infrastructure system as a whole and which arise as a result of interdependencies between different sectors. "Systems resilience, rather than sector resilience, is required to adapt to climate change."
Transport networks
The East Midlands' central location in the UK means that it is important logistically. Key routes such as the M1 and A1 (north-south) and the M69 and A14 (east-west) pass through. East Midlands Airport is the second largest UK airport for freight. Major rail networks serving the region include the Midland Main Line and the East Coast Main Line. The "Climate Change and the East Midlands Economy" report identified the following weather impacts currently experienced by the road transport system:
- Precipitation: road traffic accidents occurring in wet conditions
- Temperature: hot spells causing degredation in road surfaces
- Flooding: widespread damage and disruption to routes
The "Climate Change and the East Midlands Economy" study used the Weather Generator to analyse how climate change may affect these weather sensitivities in the future, and the Catthorpe Interchange in Northamptonshire was chosen as the location to focus on. This is a particularly busy route with large volumes of traffic since it contains the interchange between the M1, M6 and A14, which represent the main North-South and East-West routes in this part of the UK. For the full results see p90 of the report.
In the East Midlands, the 3 Counties Alliance Partnership (3CAP: made up of Derbyshire County Council, Leicestershire County Council and Nottinghamshire County Council) commissioned a study to investigate "The effect of climate change on 3CAP's highway network policies and standards", which was published in 2009. The study used the UKCIP02 climate projections (a predecessor of UKCP09 - see the section on Future Climate in this Resource using the menu on the right) and focused on the year 2050. The report summarises that climate change is "set to have significant impacts on the construction and maintenance of local authority highways. Drier and hotter summers will lead to more incidences of pavement deterioration and subsidence. Wetter winters and more frequent heavy rainfall events will result in more frequent incidences of flooding, particularly in low-lying areas and floodplains, and a higher risk of landslides. This will have an impact on pavement performance and resilience, drainage capacity and condition, utilities and highways structures (such as bridges, culverts, road signs and street lighting). ... Reduced snowfall will reduce the need for gritting and snow and ice removal but will not necessarily reduce the need for the winter maintenance capacities and abilities that are available for utilisation." The study included a local risk and probability-based assessment of the vulnerabilities to climate change, and identified the most effective adaptive responses.
"Local transport: adapting to climate change" is a publication by the Transport Planning Society, UKCIP and the Nottingham Declaration Partnership, which offers some initial ideas of how Local Transport Authorities might adapt to climate change. It contains a useful checklist of issues to consider regarding a transport network's vulnerability to climate change, and also provides ideas for low to medium cost adaptation measures.
Utilities
Severn Trent Water (STW) is a Reporting Authority under the Adaptation Reporting Power. STW's adaptation report has been published, along with reports from other water companies including Anglian Water. The report assesses how projected long-term climate change is likely to affect STW's operations and how they plan to respond to those risks to protect the services they provide to their customers. The report discusses the increased likelihood of hotter, drier summers placing pressure upon water availability and the ecology in rivers and reservoirs across our region. However, projected increases in winter rainfall may present an opportunity to collect and store more water to help offset the impacts of hotter, drier summers. The projected increase in winter rainfall and the intensity of summer storms would increase the likelihood of flooding from sewers. There is also considerable uncertainty about how big the increases will be. In the production of this report STW have liaised with local authorities and other stakeholders to understand how climate change could affect us all and to see how we can best work together to adapt to climate change.
In November 2010 STW held a stakeholder workshop to raise awareness of the work they are doing on adaptation and to obtain feedback on their approach. STW were particularly interested in how the operations of public bodies may be affected by STW's decisions, and how decisions by public bodies might affect STW in return. STW's presentation from the workshop is available to download.
