The basics of climate change adaptation, vulnerability and risk assessment

Since the start of the 2014-20 EU programming period, JASPERS has advised on the preparation of climate change risk assessments for numerous EU-projects and across all sectors, notably roads. This case study is based on a pilot approach developed by the Polish national roads authority in cooperation with JASPERS. The document should enable road network operators (and transport operators in general) to integrate climate change resilience into networks management and artificial intelligence (AI).

Building upon the assessment and mapping of the national road network climate vulnerabilities, the work undertaken  identifies the need to implement climate resilience investments on the existing network, as well as informs climate proofing for new developments. The publication also includes a business case on climate adaptation for roads.

This is the polish version of the JASPERS working paper bearing the same title, as published in English in June 2017.

Roads are at the heart of the climate debate, both as a source of greenhouse gas emissions and as assets exposed to climate change risks. The past decade has seen, for instance, multiple cases of floods flushing road sections away and heat waves making concrete pavement joints burst in many locations across Europe.

New questions are now emerging for road infrastructure managers: How vulnerable are roads to extreme weather events? What can be done to make roads more climate-resilient? Which parts of the network are most exposed? Are existing design guidelines adequate? What cost-effective responses can be implemented?

Issues like these can be addressed with an approach referred to as Climate Resilience Analysis for Road Networks, which JASPERS can help road authorities to implement.