That is the stark message of Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) - , the global scientific authority that reports through the United Nations.

Efforts to reduce emissions, of which in the UK transport is the single largest source, must continue but the report highlights the need for policy makers and professionals to pay much more attention to the adaptation of infrastructure to cope with change that is now locked in. Coastal communities are particularly vulnerable, with a billion more people likely to face significant climate related hazards over the next 2 decades. No part of the globe will however escape from the risks linked to high temperatures, intense rainfall and other climate extremes.

In response the IPPC urges a focus on climate resilient development backed by “integrated, inclusive planning and investment” that “significantly increase the adaptive capacity of urban and rural settlements”.

The report bemoans the current focus on “grey infrastructure” - development that misses the opportunity to provide services while also enhancing eco-systems. This is an issue currently being tackled by a CHIHT focus group on Green and Blue Infrastructure. As far back as 2014, CIHT called for the creation of a statutory duty on infrastructure provides to carry out resilience assessments a call we reiterated in a recent submission to the National Infrastructure Commission.

The report is the 2nd of 3 key IPPC publications in its current cycle of work, the first, last summer, provided an updated understanding of the underlying science of climate change, and the third due later this Spring will focus on the effectiveness of different ways to mitigate climate change.

You can find out more about how CIHT is supporting the transportation sector play its part in making the UK a net zero greenhouse gas emissions economy by 2050 by visiting our ‘Route to Net Zero’ project pages here

If you would like to respond on any of the points raised in this article, you can contact us on e: technical@ciht.org.uk