The emerging Storm Babet is a reminder of how climate change is increasing extreme weather events, such as storms, floods and heatwaves. Both internationally and within the UK, we are seeing more extreme weather events, happening more frequent, but also occurring in magnitudes that once would once have been barely considered possible. These climate related disasters, that have impacted people and society, highlight the importance of making our critical infrastructure more resilient.

In developed societies, infrastructure is often threatened by extreme weather, but the presence of infrastructure itself is critical to protecting wider society from the harmful effects of a changing climate. The increase in extreme weather events necessitates a change in how we prepare for such eventualities. Where we once attempted to calculate the probability of events occurring as a basis for infrastructure investment, we increasingly need to understand the exposure of people, assets and services to extreme weather and build greater capacity to cope, including the preparation of local communities and increased co-ordination between stakeholders; moving from a paradigm of risk management to one of resilience.