Climate change damages to Alaska public infrastructure and the economics of proactive adaptation
Citation:
Climate change damages to Alaska public infrastructure and the economics of proactive adaptation. PNAS (PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES). National Academy of Sciences, WASHINGTON, DC.
Impact/Purpose:
This analysis is an evaluation of the economic impacts of climate change on public infrastructure in Alaska.
Description:
Climate change in the circumpolar region is causing dramatic environmental change that increases the vulnerability of the built environment. We quantified the economic impacts of climate change on Alaska’s public infrastructure under relatively high and low climate forcing scenarios (representative concentration pathways, RCPs) 8.5 and 4.5, using an infrastructure model modified to account for unique climate impacts at northern latitudes, including permafrost thaw and extreme freeze-thaw dynamics. Additionally, we evaluated how proactive adaptation influenced total economic impacts on select infrastructure types, and developed first order estimates of potential coastal erosion losses associated with lengthening of the coastal ice-free season for 12 communities.
