Plataforma sobre Adaptación al Cambio Climático en España

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Mobility and transport

Assessing adaptation challenges and increasing resilience at Heathrow airport

In 2011, as all other large infrastructure providers in UK, Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) was asked by the UK government to submit a climate change adaptation report (also called adaptation strategy). The report included a climate adaptation risk analysis matrix, which has been regularly monitored since then. Besides rain (and consequent flooding) and temperature, fog and changing wind directions were identified as the weather conditions deserving more attention today and also in the future.

Adaptation of French standards for design, maintenance and operation of transport infrastructures

At the request of the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy (DGITM), Cerema (Centre d’Études et d’Expertise sur les Risques, l’Environnement, la Mobilité et l’Aménagement) under supervision of the French Administration, completed in 2015 a systematic review of standards and guidelines on the design, maintenance and operation of transport infrastructures. The aim of this review was to adapt transport infrastructures and systems to future climate conditions and foster greater resilience to the effects of extreme weather events.

New locks in the Albert canal in Flanders, Belgium

The Albert canal in the eastern part of Flanders connects the industrial zones around Liege with the harbour of Antwerp. Ships can continue their way at both ends of the canal: via the river Scheldt to the Netherlands and via the river Meuse to France. In the future, the Meuse basin, from which the Albert canal receives its water, is projected to experience more and longer periods of low river discharge, as a consequence of climate change. Thus, less water is expected to be available for sluicing ships. This would limit inland navigation.

Integrated management and adaptation strategies for Cork Harbour, Ireland

This case describes the steps taken towards achieving more balanced management of Cork Harbour, through the establishment of a strategic alliance (couplet) between the local authority and multidisciplinary academic experts. This innovative partnership resulted in the adoption of an Integrated Management Strategy. A stakeholder group – Harbour Management Focus Group (HMFG) – comprising statutory and non-statutory organisations was established to implement the management strategy.

Incorporating climate change risks in planning the modernization of the railway corridor in Slovakia

Rail transport plays an important role in in Slovakia, providing 35.6% of the total volume of passenger transport and 19.0% of freight transport in 2017. The main railway corridor, which connects the cities of Bratislava, Žilina and Košice, part of the trans-European TEN-T transport system and Rail Freight Corridor 9 (Eastern Corridor, RFC 9), is currently being modernized with the support from the European financial instruments.

Improved resilience of biomass fuel supply chain in UK

Nine UK electricity generating companies have been receiving support based on the provisions of the Climate Change Act of 2008. Specifically, the Joint Environmental Programme (an initiative funded by nine of the leading energy producers in the UK) supports a programme of research focusing on the environmental impacts of these nine leading producers, including Drax Power. The operating subsidiary of the Drax Group plc, Drax Power Limited has 6 boilers with a maximum capacity of 3,945 MW, 3 of which are powered by biomass pellets.