Part of a new industry series: Inhabiting the Future™: Climate Risk Intelligence™ for Cities & Urban Infrastructure
Understanding Climate Risks: Types of Physical Climate Risks (Acute vs. Chronic)
Physical climate risks in urban settings fall into two main categories: acute and chronic. Recognizing the difference between these types is crucial for developing practical climate risk insights and creating resilient infrastructure. Acute climate risks involve sudden and severe weather events that result in immediate and often damaging impacts. These include hurricanes, heat waves, flash floods, wildfires, and powerful storms. Such events disrupt city life as they happen, damaging buildings and infrastructure, overwhelming emergency services, and forcing people to move. Their unpredictable nature makes it hard for traditional planning to keep up, as it tends to react rather than anticipate.
Chronic climate risks, on the other hand, are slower to develop but no less destructive over time. These include long-term phenomena such as rising sea levels, prolonged droughts, increasing average temperatures, and the gradual loss of biodiversity or freshwater resources. Unlike sudden events, chronic risks unfold over years or decades, steadily damaging the functionality and livability of urban systems. For example, persistent heat stress can strain energy grids, decrease labor productivity, and worsen public health issues, especially for vulnerable populations. Sea-level rise can erode coastlines, flood infrastructure, and threaten drinking water supplies through saltwater intrusion.
While acute risks tend to grab headlines and prompt emergency responses, chronic risks often go unaddressed until they escalate into a crisis. However, the two are closely linked. Chronic stressors can worsen the impacts of sudden shocks, such as a city enduring a prolonged drought being less prepared for a sudden wildfire, or aging infrastructure failing more dramatically during an extreme storm after decades of exposure to heat and humidity. A comprehensive climate risk strategy must incorporate both types of threats, considering the immediate dangers of acute events alongside the long-term pressures of gradual change. Only by doing so can cities enhance their adaptive capacity, protect infrastructure, and ensure the well-being of residents amid a rapidly changing climate.
Ready to get started? To learn how ClimaTwin can help you assess the physical and financial impacts of future weather and climate extremes on your infrastructure assets, capital programs, and investment portfolio, please visit www.climatwin.com today.
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