Costs are mounting from the damage caused by extreme weather on roads, railways, bridges and other basic infrastructure
Yet the cost is there, mounting more rapidly as each sweltering summer arrives – and it will have to be paid for by current and future generations. It is a cost that could eventually run into trillions of dollars.
Some are taking notice. On July 15, Reuters reported on Europe’s race to protect infrastructure from heat as “railways buckle under record heat, roads melt and power grids strain”. A recently published book, Climate Change Effects on Infrastructure, examines how facilities are operating outside or at the limit of tolerance levels because they were built on assumptions that did not include climate change or extreme weather.