Adapting Victoria's infrastructure to climate change: Phase 3: Economic analysis of adaptation for roads

Climate change is causing pervasive and diverse impacts on Victorian infrastructure that will cascade through the economy and society into the future. Extreme temperatures, bushfires, floods, and sea level rise will increasingly disrupt critical systems and services, exacerbate existing vulnerabilities, and present material financial risks. Infrastructure will be grossly affected by the physical impacts of climate change but will also continue to play a pertinent role in building the resilience of communities in the face of climaterelated shocks and stresses.
Economic analysis of infrastructure adaptation investments does not always consider the wider costs and benefits of climate-related impacts on society, which can result in under-investment in resilience. As such, Victoria needs a replicable, robust, and comprehensive approach to identify, quantify, and articulate common costs and benefits of adaptation to climate change that can be applied to adapting existing infrastructure and enhancing infrastructure resilience.
As part of its research program, Infrastructure Victoria is assessing the risks and opportunities of adapting Victoria’s infrastructure to climate change. The project considers existing climate change adaptation actions in Victoria, identifies priority adaptation measures to improve the resilience of infrastructure in response to climate-related risks and evaluates the return on investment for adaptation actions.