Unknown (2026) Impacts of global warming on coastal flood risk to European surface transport infrastructure

Identification

• Journal: Nature Climate Change
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-01-14
• Authors: Unknown
• DOI: 10.1038/s41558-025-02518-4

Research Groups

• Khin Nawarat
• Johan Reyns
• Roshanka Ranasinghe

Short Summary

This study provides a Europe-wide probabilistic assessment of coastal flood risk to road and rail infrastructure under various global warming levels, revealing that each increment of warming significantly amplifies flood damage, with smaller economies facing the greatest relative economic impacts.

Objective

• To conduct a Europe-wide probabilistic assessment of coastal flood risk to surface transport infrastructure (road and rail) at different levels of global warming.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Europe-wide, focusing on coastal areas and surface transport infrastructure.
• Temporal Scale: Projections under different global warming levels (no specific years or periods mentioned, but rather warming increments).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not explicitly detailed in the provided summary, but involves a probabilistic assessment framework.
• Data sources:
  • Extreme sea level projections (referenced Tebaldi, C. et al., 2021, "Extreme sea levels at different global warming levels. Nat. Clim. Change 11, 746–751").
  • European coastal zone information (referenced European Environment Agency, 2006, "The Changing Faces of Europe’s Coastal Areas EEA Report No. 6").

Main Results

• Each increment of global warming amplifies coastal flood damage to European surface transport infrastructure.
• Smaller economies within Europe are projected to face the greatest relative economic impacts from increased coastal flood risk.
• Several European countries will need to increase and potentially realign transport investments towards climate resilience to mitigate these risks.

Contributions

• Provides the first Europe-wide probabilistic assessment of coastal flood risk specifically for road and rail infrastructure under varying global warming scenarios.
• Quantifies the direct relationship between increments of global warming and amplified flood damage to critical transport infrastructure.
• Identifies differential economic impacts across European economies, highlighting the vulnerability of smaller economies.
• Emphasizes the urgent need for strategic investment realignment in transport infrastructure for climate resilience.

Funding

• Not detailed in the provided summary.

Citation

@article{Unknown2026Impacts,
  author = {},
  title = {Impacts of global warming on coastal flood risk to European surface transport infrastructure},
  journal = {Nature Climate Change},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1038/s41558-025-02518-4},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02518-4}
}