The Costs of Adapting to Climate Change for Infrastructure

An approach to estimating the costs of adapting to climate change is presented along with results for major components of infrastructure. The analysis separates the price/cost and quantity effects of climate change. The first component measures how climate change alters the cost of a baseline program of infrastructure development via changes in design standards and operating costs. The second component measures the effect of climate changes on the long-run demand for infrastructure. The results indicate that the price/cost element is usually less than 1 percent of baseline costs, while the quantity effect may be negative for many countries.