Policy Guidance Brief: Climate proofing Australia’s infrastructure
Author: NCCARF
Year: 2013
Infrastructure has a critical role in Australia. It supports economic activities, provides services to communities, contributes to productivity and enhances our lives. In addition, it is often long-lived, which poses a particular set of challenges with respect to climate change infrastructure designed today must withstand the changes in climate anticipated for fifty or more years in the future. This factsheet deals with climate proofing Australias infrastructure and describes the requirements to ensure that design, building, financing and maintenance of infrastructure are all adapting to climate change: (i) agreement and support from multiple levels of government, service providers, customers and regulators to decide that it is prudent and timely to take action, (ii) understanding of when incremental actions are sufficient and when large-scale investment in new infrastructure is required, (iii) exploration of opportunities and funding models to build back better following natural hazards, (iv) long-term planning, (v) managing uncertainty by considering a range of future scenarios, and (vi) educating the public to understand the trade-offs between security of supply and cost under the requirements for adaptation and carbon reduction imposed by climate change.
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