Ready for tomorrow: Seven strategies for climate-resilient infrastructure

As the impacts of climate change are felt more forcefully around the globe, decision makers are asking, with increasing urgency, how they can make their communities and businesses more resilient. One obvious place to start is infrastructure. To address this, the Hoover Institution convened a yearlong collaboration with leading experts and practitioners in development banks, government agencies, universities, private firms, non-governmental organizations, and professional associations. It drew on diverse perspectives to the challenges of resilience, including physical and social science, engineering, policy, finance, and education.

The resulting paper lays out seven strategies for developing more climate-resilient infrastructure. The strategies are: (1) make better decisions in the face of uncertainty; (2) view infrastructure systemically; (3) take an iterative, multi-hazard approach; (4) improve and inform cost-benefit analysis; (5) mainstream nature-based infrastructure; (6) jump-start resilience with immediate actions; and (7) plan now to build back better.

Resilient infrastructure will be better able to deliver services in the coming decades. Globally, practitioners have gained significant experience in how to achieve this, yet this knowledge is not yet broadly applied, putting significant investments at risk. Now is the time to apply this experience, accelerate learning, and scale up. The authors encourage an ongoing dialogue to advance global learning.