New universal framework supports infrastructure resilience against climate and disaster risk

By establishing a universal language for risk and resilience assessments, the guidance aims to support organizations that operate, maintain, finance, or plan infrastructure, while helping inform decisions that can strengthen the reliability and resilience of services communities depend on.

“Given the important role infrastructure systems play in supporting essential services like power, water, and mobility within a community or region, understanding the climate and natural hazard risks these systems face is a critical first step in improving their resilience,” said Mike Mieler, Associate at Arup. “The Infrastructure Edition of the taxonomy brings much needed guidance and consistency to the risk and resilience assessment process.” 

The taxonomy helps stakeholders across the built environment better understand the impacts of extreme weather and climate on infrastructure systems. It offers a shared method for evaluation that can help align expectations when organizations are pursuing resilience actions. The guidance provides a systems perspective that captures the complexities and interdependencies of networked infrastructure, looking beyond individual assets. 

"This taxonomy is a critical step forward in informing on infrastructure risk analysis that enables better decisions. It gives governments, infrastructure owners, investors, and development practitioners a stronger basis for understanding risk, prioritizing resilience investments, and protecting communities," said Rashmin Gunasekera, Lead Disaster Risk Management Specialist at the World Bank Group. 

Building on the first edition of the taxonomy, which focused on buildings, the Infrastructure Edition defines levels of assessment that set minimum requirements for different risk assessment needs and help guide the design of adaptations that improve the resilience of infrastructure systems. 

"At GEM, we have seen how essential common taxonomies are for making risk information transparent, comparable and usable,” said Helen Crow, Secretary General of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation. “By extending its Universal Taxonomy from buildings to infrastructure, Arup is helping disaster risk practitioners, infrastructure specialists, investors and policymakers better understand, compare and apply risk and resilience assessments across the systems on which societies depend.” 

The Infrastructure Edition is designed to support more complex decisions as infrastructure operators and stakeholders advance their resilience efforts. In addition to the taxonomies, a section dedicated to User Personas outlines specific use cases for stakeholders in different organizational roles who may benefit from the guidance. These examples show how the taxonomy can be used by both consumers and producers of risk information.  

For consumers, this includes: 

• A clear framework for integrating risk assessments into internal project development processes and decision-making cycles 
• Guidance for defining appropriate technical requirements in Request for Proposals (RFPs) or Terms of Reference 
• A consistent basis for comparing bids or proposals from service providers and consultants offering different levels of risk assessment or resilience solutions for the same RFP 

For producers, this includes: 

• A clear framework to structure, describe, and differentiate service offerings 
• A consistent basis for pricing services aligned with defined level of analysis 
• A tool for defining scope of work expectations with project developers, funders, or other stakeholders 

As climate and disaster risks place growing pressure on the built environment, the Universal Taxonomy - Infrastructure Edition provides a clearer path forward for both technical and nontechnical stakeholders to navigate risk analysis and implement resilient design more effectively.