Massive storms and climate shifts threaten crucial infrastructure across America.
Chronic, weather-related disasters are straining limited government resources and having broad economic impacts nationally.
What's happening?
The Pew Charitable Trusts reported that at least 43% of U.S. roads were in poor or mediocre condition as of 2021. Meanwhile, to improve America's drinking water infrastructure, state and local governments must spend an estimated $625 billion over the next 20 years.
Pew measures the potential economic impacts of climate issues as physical and transition risks.
Physical risks occur when people, homes, or finances suffer from a natural disaster. These immediately threaten water and transportation infrastructure because of damaging storms.
Transition risks are the costs required for efforts to limit the planet's heat-trapping gas that fuels natural disasters. These costs come from upfront investments in new technologies or government policies that reduce pollution.
Pew determined that state and local governments must carefully plan how our changing climate may affect their infrastructure and account for adaptation costs. Pew's report examines how climate impacts have key financial implications for service disruptions, repairs, maintenance, planning costs, and reduced revenues.
Why are climate-related infrastructure needs important?
Disruptions to public infrastructure are significant because they can result in expensive repairs, increased government service needs, and reduced budgets for revenue-generating activities.
Pew estimates that rising temperatures and precipitation changes are likely to pose risks to the entire U.S. for the foreseeable future. It compared expected extreme weather patterns in the country's regions and how those patterns create hazards for transportation, infrastructure, and water systems.
Our rapidly heating planet is intensifying severe weather events, and Pew's assessment dives into how these affect public systems and how to adapt to them to reduce climate-related damage by up to one-third.
What's being done about climate impacts nationwide?
Pew suggested a framework for action to help states and municipalities strategically invest in climate resilience. These investments can create profound cost savings during uncertain times and constantly changing conditions.
To make these investments cost-effective, governments must prioritize their infrastructure needs while remaining open to new information and tools as they become available.
Federal incentives for states' resilience efforts can maximize these investments. Meanwhile, public education is essential to encourage compliance with changing laws and gain voters' support for infrastructure projects.
Living in a world with climate-related threats to water and transportation systems, you can help build resilience by making well-informed decisions about your habits and integrating sustainability into daily life. This could be by talking about the climate with others to raise awareness, voting for pro-climate candidates in elections, or making your next car an EV.
Together, we can protect vulnerable communities from natural disaster risks and help people bounce back quicker after they occur.
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