Assessment of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation for Inland Transport: Towards Climate Resilient Transport Systems

From 2020 to 2025, the UNECE Group of Experts on Assessment of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation for Inland Transport studied how evolving climate conditions will affect transport systems across the region. Their findings underscore the urgent need to adapt infrastructure—such as roads, railways, ports, airports, and terminals—to withstand increasingly frequent and severe weather events. By 2050, many areas will face significantly higher risks due to rising temperatures, flooding, droughts, sea level rise, glacier melt, and permafrost thaw. Without proactive adaptation, these changes could cause widespread damage and disruption, threatening the movement of people, goods, and emergency aid. To address these challenges, the Group emphasized a structured adaptation process: assessing current vulnerabilities, projecting future impacts, designing resilience measures, and monitoring progress. To support this, they developed practical tools including climate projection maps, a criticality assessment guide, a stress test framework, and a methodology for adaptation pathways. This report serves as a comprehensive resource, offering insights into future climate scenarios, relevant policy and legal frameworks, impact assessment methods, and case studies of real-world adaptation actions. It also outlines priorities for future work, such as standardized incident reporting, evaluation of adaptation strategies, nature-based solutions, and assessing climate impacts on commercial contracts.