MAINSTREAMING CLIMATE RESILIENCE IN
INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING
RATIONALE, KEY CONCEPTS AND ENABLING ENVIRONMENT
Sophie Lavaud
Climate Change Adaptation
OECD Environment Directorate
8th March 2023

Indonesia is highly vulnerable to climate change
• Indonesia: Top 1/3 of countries
exposed to climate risks (INFORM
Risk Index, 2019)
• Climate risks in Indonesia
– Sea-level rise
– Landslides
– Shift in rainfall patterns and
increasing temperatures
– Floods and droughts
• Indonesia is vulnerable to climate
risks
• High population density in
hazard prone areas
• Strong dependence on natural
resource
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Source: WB Climate Risk Profile Indonesia, 2022
Source: Climate Resilience Development
Policy 2020-2045
Bappenas

Infrastructure failure can lead to social hardship and
economic losses by disrupting access to basic life lines:
 Hurricane Katrina in (2005): power failure led to severe water
contamination, due to purification and wastewater treatment plants
seizing to function
 Floods UK (2007): 350 000 people without access to mains water
supply for over 2 weeks
 Superstorm Sandy (2012): 5.4 million commuters stranded in NYC
as roads and metro closed for at least 2 weeks
 Floods Serbia (2014): 25% reduction in power due flooding of a
coal mine
 Australian Bushfires (2019/20): infra damages exceeded USD
26/hectare;
Climate change impacts on infrastructure

 Increased reliability of service provision (ex post and ex
ante benefits)
 Increased asset life (reduced maintenance costs; avoid
need for costly retrofitting)
 Reap co-benefits: some climate-resilience measures (use
of natural components (e.g. green roofs; surrounding assets
with permeable land) generate biodiversity, climate
mitigation, or human wellbeing benefits
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Benefits of climate resilient infrastructure
USD 50 billion/year in flood defenses could reduce
expected losses up to USD 1 trillion by 2050
(Hallegatte et al., 2013)
Source: Lifelines: The Resilient Infrastructure Opportunity
(World Bank/ Hallegatte et al., 2019)

“Climate-resilient infrastructure is
infrastructure that is designed, built and
operated in a way that anticipates,
prepares for, and adapts to changing
climate conditions…
…it can also withstand, respond to, and
recover rapidly from disruptions caused by
these climate conditions” (OECD, 2018)
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What is climate-resilient infrastructure?
Source: https://www.oecd.org/environment/cc/policy-perspectives-climate-resilient-
infrastructure.pdf

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What is climate-resilient infrastructure?
Source: https://www.oecd.org/environment/cc/policy-perspectives-climate-resilient-
infrastructure.pdf
 Resilience measures are:
o Fortify coastal infrastructure against
flooding
o Increase cooling system capacity for
solar energy
o Building on higher ground to prepare
for sea-level rise
o Implement program for pruning and
managing trees near transmission
lines

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THE ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

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Planning and designing climate-resilient infrastructure
Source: OECD/IADB Policy Evaluation Framework on the Governance of Critical Infrastructure Resilience in Latin America, 2017
https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Policy-Evaluation-Framework-on-the-Governance-of-Critical-Infrastructure-Resilience-in-
Latin-America.pdf
o Policies and regulations
o Technical codes and
standards
o Facilitating climate risk
disclosure
o Voluntary guides, toolkits
and standards
o Designing appropriate
financing strategies

 Planning for climate resilient
infrastructure requires climate risk
assessment
 Climate risk assessment aims at
understanding and characterizing
climate risks
o Assessing hazards, vulnerability and
exposure
o Assess interdependent risks and
cascading impacts at asset and
operative level and beyond
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Climate risk assessment
Source: IPCC (2014): Fifth Assessment Report, Working Group 2, Chapter 19
AR5 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2014 — IPCC

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 Resources available in the United
Kingdom to support climate resilient
infrastructure planning:
o The Environment Agency provides data for flood-
related parameters in their Flood Map used in
infrastructure development
o The Highways England Adaptation Framework
Model: process to identify activities that will be
affected by climate change and possible options
to manage risks
Climate risk assessment: examples
Source: UK government service
Check the long term flood risk for an area in
England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Source: Clim’ADAPT
Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and
Framework — English (europa.eu)

OECD simulation of potential macro-economic impacts of
Seine river flood in Paris region
 1.5 million households and business customers could face power supply
disruptions
 More than half of the 250 km metro line could be closed (only 1 of 14
lines operational)
 Road network disruptions could affect 5 motorways, several major
highways and all bridge crossings over the Seine river
 5 million customers could face disruptions to water supply
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19 billion in business operating losses (i.e. 65% of the direct losses)
Source: OECD (2014), Seine Basin, Île de France, 2014: Resilience to major floods,
http://www.oecd.org/gov/risk/seine-basin-ile-de-france-2014-resilience-to-major-floods-
9789264208728-en.htm.
Understanding future infrastructure impacts

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 Climate-resilient infrastructure can be promoted
through:
 National level policies:
o National Adaptation Plans/Strategies;
o National Infrastructure Plans/Strategies;
o Sectoral infrastructure development plans (transport,
energy, water strategies)
 (Sub)national Regulations:
o Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA)
o Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA)
o e.g. South Africa: EIA on Port of Durban included a climate
risk assessment – original design was adapted (heightened)
to protect port from sea level rise
National policies and regulations
Port Durban, South Africa
Source: https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/durban-harbour-
and-port

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 Technical codes and standards need to be
adapted to account for climate change
impacts:
o New York state utilities regulator: electric, gas
and steam systems need to be protected against
impacts from climate change;
o France’s Nuclear Safety Agency updated water
discharge regulation to adapt to heatwaves;
o Korea Expressway Corporation adapted design
standards to enhance drainage capacity, bridge
design and embankment slopes;
Technical codes and standards
France Nuclear Power Stations during extreme heatwave
Source: https://lenergeek.com/2018/08/14/nucleaire-canicule-
polemique-tristan-kamin-tribune/

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 Increased public disclosure of climate risks can encourage infrastructure resilience
building by :
 informing investment decisions
 raise awareness
 stimulate action
 UK: Adaptation Reporting Power gives government power to require infrastructure
providers to report on their CC risk exposure
 USA: Securities and Exchange Commission: issued guidance that CC risks need to be
disclosed
Facilitating climate risk disclosure
Source: Techtarget,
https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/news/252516019/SE
C-chair-touts-benefits-of-climate-risk-disclosure-rule

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 Climate impacts will increase needs for infrastructure investment
 Developing and communicating infrastructure plans can help investors identify
investment opportunities
 Public procurement processes can support climate resilience
 Lenders and public funders can use risk screening to identify infrastructure resilience
needs
 Public finance can be used to mobilise private co-financing
Financing strategies

 Time horizons: benefits span beyond administrative/political
cycles
 Uncertainty about future: climate-resilient infrastructure
needs to be prepared for range of different scenarios
 Information and capacity: awareness and information on
climate risks/projections not readily availale, in required
resolution
 Policy misalignments: can inadvertently distort incentives to
act/discourage the use of innovative solutions
 Externalities: many co-benefits may not result in generating
revenues for operators
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Challenges in developing climate resilient infrastructure

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THANK YOU
Sophie.Lavaud@oecd.org