Our BBC interviews on climate resilience of critical infrastructure and sustainable development
BBC interviewed us today twice, one on the BBCNews and one on the BBC World News, see one of the videos here.
The climate crisis and its impact on critical infrastructure were at the epicentre of these interviews, due to the ongoing heatwave and wildfires that cause devastation in Europe. We reiterated the positions of our agenda-setting research publications and projects on climate change and what is of paramount importance in climate adaptation i.e.,:
– Building resilience does not mean abandoning efficiency, but rather maximising the long-term sustainability of socio-economic systems in the face of future disruptions. It is better to do this with ex-ante adaptation rather than post-ante reactive system recovery.
– We urgently need synergies between scientists, infrastructure operators and governments, to overcome siloed thinking which leads to cascading ramifications. This includes embracing system complexity to minimise consequences to interdependent systems from unexpected disruption.
– We need new policies that underpin climate change and design for uncertainty in view of different scenarios of climate change.
– We need more research to build adaptive capacity that incorporates deep uncertainties associated with climate change underpinned by digital technologies.
Building resilience in our critical infrastructure through emerging technology is a vital strand of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as it contributes to climate-resilient infrastructure (SDG 9) and sustainable industrialisation.
