Climate Resilient Infrastructure Assets

IPWEA is collaborating with a range of project partners to deliver a nationally relevant, industry best practice guideline, online course and supporting resources that will provide asset stewards, managers, engineers, planners and designers with the relevant knowledge, training and tools needed to reduce climate change risks to infrastructure and enhance asset resilience.

About

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of a range of climate change related hazards. The World Economic Forum's 2024 Global Risks Report identified extreme weather events as “the top risk most likely to present a material crisis on a global scale in 2024”. The Second Australian National Action Plan to implement the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework states that since 2013, 496 (92%) of Local Government Areas have been impacted by disasters at a cost to the economy of $38 billion per year on average.

By 2100, temperatures are projected to increase by as much as 4oC above pre-industrial levels and sea level rise of up to 2.3 m as a result of ice sheet collapse cannot be ruled out. Extreme heat events and heatwaves, bushfires, rainfall events and flooding, droughts, coastal inundation and erosion, extreme winds, storms and cyclonic events will continue to increase. And as a result, exposed and vulnerable infrastructure will be damaged and the services they provide compromised.

To reduce climate impacts, and ensure the provision of essential community services, it is critical that infrastructure assets are planned, constructed and managed to be climate resilient. A 2022 Insurance Council of Australia report calculated that every $1 invested in resilience initiatives could result in an estimated $9.60 return on investment. However, a lack of knowledge, training and tools means that climate change risks are not always considered in strategic asset management planning, asset management plans or long-term financial plans.

Green Infrastructure

Climate Resilient Infrastructure

The Climate Resilient Infrastructure Guidelines

The Climate Resilient Infrastructure Guidelines will provide will provide best practice guidance on the risks, and resilience options for a range of climate hazards including changes to temperature, heatwave, rainfall, flooding, drought, sea level rise and resulting coastal inundation and erosion, ocean acidification, increased storm and cyclonic intensity, and bushfire weather. Options will be detailed for buildings, bridges, roads, footpaths, kerbing, water and waste water assets, stormwater assets, and coastal assets, as well as common infrastructure materials including concrete, steel, PVC, wood, bitumen, glass and fibre reinforced polymers (FRP).

The Guidelines will also provide instruction on how to include climate change into long-term asset and financial management plans to ensure the continued provision of essential community services. A stand-alone online training module will be developed to support the guidance and will allow users to complete an industry recognised credential. And IPWEA’s existing suite of globally recognised asset and financial management publications and tools will also be expanded to climate change impacts, risk, adaptation and resilience.

IPWEA is excited to collaborate with our project partners to deliver practical guidance, tools and templates to guide infrastructure asset stewards in the incorporation of climate change risk and resilient adaptation options into mainstream asset management. This project will ensure that climate change becomes integrated into all levels of asset management planning and the resources and funding needed to implement it are allocated.

David Jenkins | CEO IPWEA

Our Partners

The Climate Resilient Asset Management for Green Infrastructure project is a collaboration between the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA), SA Department of Infrastructure and Transport, SA Department of Environment and Water, South Australian Coastal Councils Alliance (SACCA), Alexandrina Council, Wattle Range Council, Yorke Peninsula Council, and the Adelaide Coastal Councils Network (ACCN). The project has received funding from the Australian Government, IPWEA and project partners.

Climate Resilient Asset Management Partners