Impacts of climate change on transport: A focus on airports, seaports and inland waterways

The report assesses the impacts of climate change on transport for Europe using projections of climate data, coastal inundation, river flooding and river discharge data. Impacts considered include those of sea level rise, storm surges, extreme weather events and floods on airports and seaports, as well as floods and droughts on inland waterways. Main outputs include the identification of transport infrastructure at risk in future time periods and the estimation of economic impacts.

The work took place in the context of the PESETA III project (Projection of Economic impacts of climate change in Sectors of the European Union based on bottom-up Analysis)  and the focus has been on the analysis of the impacts of climate change on seaports, airports and inland waterways. The three sectors were selected to complement the transport sector analysis that was conducted during the previous edition of the PESETA project and was focusing on road and rail transport.

In order to prepare for the impacts of climate change, this study seeks answers to the following questions: 'How will climate change affect transport operations?’, ‘How significant are the anticipated changes?’, ‘Where will the most severe impacts take place in Europe?’, and ‘How to measure vulnerability of different modes to climate change?’.