Download Direct and indirect impacts

Annex BR 03: Direct and indirect aspect of
Climate Change
Objective
The annex is supposed to give an idea of the direct and indirect aspects of Climate
Change. The table below presents the interaction of ‘climate’ and ‘non-climate
problems’ that – jointly - pose significant challenges to urban decision-makers. The
table is based on work of Ecologic, Berlin, and AEA, London, 2009.
The general aspects of Climate Change in urban areas are widely covered in the
literature, largely due to the awareness raised by influential reports such as the IPCC
4th Assessment Report (IPCC, 2007) and the European Environment Agency’s
Report ‘The Impacts of Europe’s Changing Climate: 2008 Indicator-based
Assessment’ (EEA, 2008).
Find the IPCC report at: http://www.ipcc.ch/
Find the EEA report at: http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/eea_report_2008_4/
Find the EU study Ecologic, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), AEA, Alterra:
‘Design of guidelines for the elaboration of Regional Climate Change Adaptation
Strategies’ at http://ecologic.eu/3078
Climate Problems
Non-climate problems
Sea level rise:
High population density:
-Storm surge
-Concentrated vulnerability
-Coastal erosion
-Overcrowding
-Saline intrusion in water table
-Social problems
-Raised coastal water table
-Drives expansion
-Long-term threat to coastal cities
River flooding:
Urbanization and expansion:
-Impact financial districts as well as residential
areas
-In-migration
-Disruptions and damage to energy, transport and
communications infrastructure
-Pressure on services (e.g. health, police) and
resources (e.g. utilities)
-Urban sprawl:
ecosystems
pressure
Flash flooding:
Impermeable surfaces
-Sewer overload/ back-up
-High run-off rates
-Pollution of groundwater
-High drainage load
on
surrounding
-Economic and social disruption
Erratic water supply
Traffic congestion & poor air quality
-e.g. droughts interspersed with floods
Drought
Ageing infrastructure
-Temporary loss of water supply/ water rationing
-Increased costs of water supply/ water pricing
(affordability concern)
Impaired water quality
Social inequality
-combination of drought (concentration) and
flood (run-off and drain back-up)
Heavy rain
Urban Heat Island
-Physical damage and disruption
Increased wind speeds
Long, global supply chains and just-in-time
delivery practices
Heat stress:
Dependence on electricity supply for most
services and security
-Air quality crises
-Direct health problems
-Waste decay
-Peak electricity demand (cooling demand)
Disease and pest increases
Baseline Review – Annex BR 03 - 30.04.2017
Pressure to de-carbonise urban settlements and
economies
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