Incorporating Climate Change Resilience in Asset Management

Climate change is causing irreversible damage to communities, the economy and the environment, and it is imperative that strong and sustained action is taken to limit its future impacts. Extreme weather events are projected to become more frequent and intense, increasing the vulnerability of transport network assets and the communities they serve. Climate change impacts the ability of transport networks to provide lifeline infrastructure services that are crucial to the distribution and continuous flow of goods and services essential for human livelihoods, the functioning of society and economic prosperity.

The physical impacts of climate change are a common threat to Austroads transport agencies, and these will only grow in frequency and intensity as the climate changes, causing wide-spread disruption to transport network’s ability to deliver the levels of service expected.

Effective and responsible asset management is crucial for agencies to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Such practices balance performance, cost, and risk over time to ensure that transport network needs are met while maximising return on investment and providing the required levels of service.

This webinar presented the outcomes of Austroads’ recent project that developed practical guidance for asset managers to embed consideration of climate resilience into their asset management processes.

The project identified a number of key issues and developed practical recommendations for each of them covering asset management systems and processes, the asset lifecycle, criticality and vulnerability assessments, valuation of climate resilience measures and asset information management. The guidance will equip asset managers with knowledge to improve their processes and achieve their asset management objectives.

The webinar was presented by Upeshika Heenetigala, Jesse Sounness and Qindong Li. There were question and answer opportunities during the session.