WORLD GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL CLIMATE RESILIENCE IN CONTEXT More people are at risk today from the impacts of climate change than ever before. Changing climate patterns, and increased frequency and severity of weather events is impacting every geography in the world. Vulnerability is heightening in the context of global population growth. As construction on flood plains, storm-prone areas and other high-risk areas increases, the likelihood of a major catastrophe consequently increases too. Decarbonising our society, restoring nature and ecosystem services and tackling our production and consumption of materials and products are essential for us to mitigate further climate change. However, the impacts of climate change are already being felt, and are locked in for decades to come. The buildings and infrastructure of our cities can continue to contribute to these problems - or they can be part of the solution. Resilience is about embedding solutions and adaptability into the core purpose of the built environment. ‘Resilience’ is the “ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions.” United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2022 We need to put people and nature first in pursuit of a world resilient to climate change - where we don’t just survive climate shocks and stresses, but thrive in spite of them. It is fundamental to consider resilience, adaptation, hazard and climate mitigation of our built environment as part of our transition to an equitable and sustainable future. This paper focuses on resilience within the built environment to natural disasters and weather conditions that are expected to increase in severity due to the impacts of climate change. These include extremes of temperature, both heat and cold, drought, storms and flooding. Wider natural disasters, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and extreme weather events such as wildfires or flash floods are also critical to consider, however these events can rarely be mitigated or lessened in severity with resilience measures. 3
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