Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Management
Objectives
Students will acquire the following knowledge and skills:
- Understand climate scenarios and analyze the variability of climate data (trends and climatic extremes).
- Acquire the methodological framework for the assessment of adaptation measures in human systems and identify the most adequate metrics for vulnerability and climate risk for the problem under analysis.
- Identify adaptation measures to climate change scenarios infrastructures of human services supply, namely energy and water.
- Understand the concept and scope of climate risk in organizations, considering the intrinsic scope of the company''''''''s activities and its supply chain, which may suffer disruption due to climatic extremes, and map the likelihood, potential impacts, and risk management and mitigation measures, including costs.
- Understand the impacts of climate change on economic activities and on the competitiveness of companies.
General characterization
Code
12671
Credits
3.0
Responsible teacher
Maria Júlia Fonseca de Seixas
Hours
Weekly - 2
Total - 43
Teaching language
Português
Prerequisites
N.A.
Bibliography
Climate Adaptation Engineering Risks and Economics for Infrastructure Decision-Making (2019). E. Bastidas-Arteaga & M. G. Stewar. Elsevier. 387 pp. DOI 10.1016/C2017-0-00942-4
Climate Change Adaptation, Resilience and Hazards (2016) Eds. Walter Leal Filho, Haruna Musa, Gina Cavan, Paul O’Hare, Julia Seixas. Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. 455 pp. DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-39880-8
Climate risk and response: Physical hazards and socioeconomic impacts (2020) J. Woetzel, D. Pinner, H. Samandari, H. Engel, M. Krishnan, B. Boland, C. Powis. McKinsey Global Institute. 144 pp.
Goldstein, A., W. R. Turner, J. Gladstone & D. G. Hole (2019) The private sector’s climate change risk and adaptation blind spots. Nature Climate Change volume 9, pages18–25(2019).
Teaching method
Theoretical-practical classes are adopted because they allow different learning activities. There will be classes with an expository component always followed by a debate (15 min) around a script prepared by the teacher to discuss concrete concepts and applications. There will be classes to work hands-on in real cases, for which students will have to prepare in advance independently. It is intended that students develop skills of autonomy and critical analysis, while developing robustness in the analysis. A class given by an external guest (business) is foreseen.
The course will be given in English if there are foreign students.
Evaluation method
The courses'''''''' evaluation comprises two parts:
Test of concepts and good practices (30%).
Teamwork (2-3 students), (70%) focused on developing a climate risk management plan in concrete organizations, for which students will have to search and relate information about the company and climate scenarios and extremes, and structure their case.
Subject matter
1. Context and relevance of adaptation and climate risk management in engineering. Exemplary cases (droughts, heat waves and floods)
2. Climate scenarios, variability of climate data: climate trends and extremes. Climate databases available online. Practical Class from Climate Databases
3. Concepts (vulnerability, adaptive capacity, risk, resilience, potential impacts) and methodology for assessing the vulnerability of human systems to CA. Metrics.
4. Impact of climate change (CA) on economic activities (agriculture, forestry, industry, tourism, etc). economic perspective; business/organizational
5. Assessment and management of risk to CA in organizations, including their global supply chain. Potential impact matrix, likelihood matrix, priority matrix. Mitigation measures for exemplary cases, including costs.
6. Integrated adaptation strategies.
Mentoring class to validate the methodology of work on Analysis and Mitigation of Climate Risk in Organizations
7. Impacts and Measures of Adaptation of Water and Energy Service Supply Infrastructures to AC Scenarios
8. Adaptation plans, including operationalization instruments (global to local)