Defra issues climate change warning

Transport and technology firms have been warned to consider the results of environmental analysis when designing new infrastructure.

Representatives of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have suggested that plans to install new wireless communication and transport networks must take climate change into account.

Environment secretary Caroline Spelman highlighted the recent £550 million upgrade of Blackfriars Station in London as a shining example of how new innovations should be ready for the effects of global warming.

She added that £200 billion is set to be invested into infrastructure over the next five years in the UK and this could be money down the drain if new designs cannot cope with increased flooding, drought and extreme weather deriving from climate change.

"Infrastructure assets often have lives of at least 50-100 years so they need to be designed to function long into the future when the climate is projected to be very different," she remarked.

This advice is likely to be heeded by developers of the proposed high-speed rail service that could be built across the UK in the near future.

Posted by Joseph Hutton