Climate change and coastal transport infrastructure—How do we keep Australia moving?

Abstract

Transport infrastructure across the spectrum of airports, seaports, road and rail involves assets that are long-lived, and what is designed today must be done so in the context of expected increases in the intensity of extreme weather events. Much of Australia’s transport infrastructure is located close to the coast and is vulnerable to sea level rise and its associated processes (e.g. erosion, inundation), and other climate change-related extremes storms, heatwaves, droughts and floods. Faced with the uncertainties of the timing and severity of climate change, decisions about what, where and how to build new coastal transport infrastructure as well as maintaining existing ones will become more and more challenging in the future. This paper summarises the risks to coastal infrastructure from climate change and the key drivers that owners and operators of transport infrastructure in Australia should consider to help them adapt to the effects of coastal climate change and extreme weather events. This includes both the siting and design of new infrastructure as well as strategies to build resilience of current infrastructure to future impact. Showcasing the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility’s (NCCARF) on-line adaptation decision support tool, CoastAdapt, the paper outlines guidelines and information available to infrastructure owners and operators to build resilience and adapt to future climate risks including a recent case study undertaken with North Queensland Airports.