Infrastructure and Climate Change: Four Governance Challenges in a Time of Disruption

The following is an excerpt from a chapter in the forthcoming Lincoln Institute book Infrastructure Economics and Policy: International Perspectives, which includes contributions from leading international academics and practitioners addressing the latest approaches to infrastructure policy, implementation, and finance. Edited by José Gómez-Ibáñez of Harvard University and Zhi Liu of the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy.

As the world focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic, the disruptive reality of global climate change looms on the horizon. Its implications for public infrastructure could be immense. Forest fires in Australia, Siberia, and California, record cold in Texas, droughts in southern India and South Africa, intense hurricanes and floods in the United States and the Philippines, and the melting of the Arctic ice sheet are all harbingers of what a changing climate has in store. 

As pointed out by Martin Weitzman and Gernot Wagner in their book Climate Shock, “Climate change is unlike . . . any other public policy problem. It’s almost uniquely global, uniquely long-term, uniquely irreversible, and uniquely uncertain—certainly unique in the combination of all four” (2015). 

The impact of climate change on infrastructure services will be integral to the world’s economy. How we power our factories, buildings, and homes; allocate and treat our water; and transport people and goods may look very different 30 years from now. Uncertainty surrounds both the impacts of and responses to climate change, but the direction is clear. The effects will be more disruptive in 2050 than today. More floods, droughts, fires, and heat waves will occur. While countries may struggle to transition their economies, escalating climate impacts may force them to accelerate their efforts.  

The biggest challenges to meeting national and local climate goals through infrastructure investments will not be in the realms of engineering or technology, but rather in the areas of governance and public policy. Key institutional issues include the broad governance issues that prevent governments at all levels from working together effectively; infrastructure siting; stranded economic and social assets; and the need for greater public investment in preventing damages as opposed to investing only in relief and recovery.