Adapting European airports to a changing climate

Airports are often classed as nationally critical infrastructure as they facilitate both mobility and economic growth. However, due to their fixed infrastructure and vulnerability to disruptive weather, they are particularly at risk from the potential consequences of climate change, with impacts such as sea level rise, higher temperatures and greater weather extremes creating both an operational and business risk. Therefore, to protect vital infrastructure and ensure future service continuity for airport operations, it is necessary to develop resilience to such risks. This paper expands on previous analysis from EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, to further clarify what the expected impacts for airports might be. In particular it highlights the need for action in areas which are expected to experience both high growth in demand and significant climate change impacts. It also presents an analysis of the outcomes of a stakeholder consultation which identifies lack of awareness, information and guidance as key barriers preventing aviation organisations from taking climate adaptation. It then introduces work carried out by EUROCONTROL in collaboration with aviation sector organisations to develop awareness of those risks so as to promote action to develop resilience. Following this, it identifies some key questions to ask when initiating a climate change risk assessment at an airport and provides examples of organisations which have already carried out risk assessments. Finally, the paper presents the outcomes of a recent workshop on Adapting Aviation to a Changing Climate which identified four key priorities for action to develop climate change resilience. It highlights identifying knowledge gaps, raising awareness and promoting collaboration as key steps in building climate change resilience for the European and global aviation sector. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.