Extreme weather events in China, expected to become increasingly common because of climate change, pose a grave threat to essential infrastructure that provides running water, electricity, road and railway connections. This research looks at the fundamental issues of understanding the vulnerability and risks to Chinese infrastructures due to adverse climate impacts. The authors have developed a suite of infrastructure (energy, transport, water, waste and ICT) models to understand how exposed China's infrastructure is to various potential climate change impacts. A concept called the “infrastructure criticality hotspot” is used which is defined as a geographical location where there is a concentration of critical infrastructure, measured according to the number of customers directly or indirectly dependent upon it. Key findings from this research show that China’s top infrastructure vulnerability hotspots are Beijing, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang. Using spatial hydrological models, the authors then investigate how these areas may be affected by flooding.
