Corporate Use

CLIMATE R E S I L I E N CE
PROOFING OF SMALL BUILDINGS
A TOOL FOR PROJECT
PROMOTERS
WHAT IS CLIMATE-PROOFING FOR BUILDINGS?
A PLANNING CONSIDERATION
Climate proofing is the action taken to protect buildings and their occupants from
climate change related events. The process aims to increase the resilience of
buildings and minimize the potential negative impacts of climate change by
employing, if required, an array of adaptation measures.

A 4-STEP PROCESS
that includes: (1) recognition of potentially harmful weather conditions for the building
and their occupants (currently and in the future); (2) identification of sensitive building
components that are most prone to sustain damage or cease operation when exposed to
climate change related events; (3) understanding of their potential consequences and the
likelihood of experiencing them; (4) adaptation planning.

A LIFE-CYCLE APPROACH
that foresees the integration of adaptation measures in the planning, design and
operation of the building.

WHY PERFORM CLIMATE-PROOFING?

To proactively advise on measures and strategies To reduce the economic losses from weather
that aim to increase the building's ability to and climate-related extremes.
withstand extreme weather events and adapt to the
changing climate conditions of the future.
To ensure continuity of operation even under
adverse climate conditions.
To fulfill the climate proofing requirements set out
in the legislation for several EU funds such as
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Because the implementation of adaptation
Cohesion Fund (CF), InvestEU, Connecting Europe measures is less expensive when performed at
Facility (CEF), and the Just Transition Fund (JTF) . the early planning stage of the project.
 Corporate Use

The tool is meant to assist the climate-proofing of small buildings against the following three
broad classes of climate hazards*:

TEMPERATURE-RELATED HAZARDS
WATER/SOIL HAZARDS > Heatwaves and prolonged periods of droughts
> Extreme rainfall events (severe storms, > Wildfires
cyclones etc.) causing flooding > Cold spells, extreme snowfalls
> River and coastal floods submerging
low-lying areas with over-flowing water EXTREME WINDS
> Landslides & land subsidence triggered > Tornadoes
by sudden downpours > Hurricanes

*The climate hazard classification follows the one included in the Taxonomy Climate delegated act .

POTENTIAL CLIMATE IMPACTS TO BUILDINGS

Roof Building Shell

Moisture/water intrusion
Structural instabilities,
Heat island effects; excessive settlements/tilting,
thermal degradation of moisture intrusion
material Material degradation, thermal
Damaged roof bridging
members/shingles; Destabilization of external
Damage to outdoor architectural features,
equipment (e.g., AC units, collapse of the building frame,
antennas, solar panels) moisture & dampness

Users
Interiors Moisture & dampness,
Power outages, loss of degraded indoor quality
communications, short Thermal discomfort of users,
circuits damages to air contamination
electrical equipment,
flooded rooms, damage
to property
Electric grid overload,
overheating of sensitive
equipment, loss of
communications

Interconnections
Sewer backups, Power-line Layout
failures, Inundated/blocked Flooded/blocked entrances
roads; Disruption of transport Heat island effects, iced exteriors
services
Injuries caused by flying debris
Power-line failures
 Corporate Use

WHAT TYPE OF GUIDANCE

IS PROVIDED?
Questionnaires and checklists that will help you:

Determine the likelihood of experiencing extreme Employ redundancies to minimize single points
climate-related events. of failure for critical infrastructure (such as
hospitals).
Understand how these extremes may increase or
decrease due to climate change. Understand what the causes of service
Identify building components that are most likely disruptions are and their broader
to experience damage or malfunction. implications.
Build resilience in the operational planning and
Identify common risk factors among key
emergency management of critical facilities
building components and comprehend the
(e.g., hospitals and public buildings)
severity of their impacts.

The guide contains built-in functions that will help you:

Identify strengthening
Associate each building techniques and soft- Assemble a list of adaptation
Automatically compile the
component with a climate measures that can be applied measures to minimize
risk profile of the building to
risk level and create a list at the building scale and damage and downtime, and
different hazard classes
with the most vulnerable protect the building and its ensure that the building’s
building components occupants from climate operation will be quickly
extremes restored

Plan design provisions Consider the cost for the

Prioritize adaptation
that can be dynamically implementation and Keep track and audit the
measures based on their
adapted to changing maintenance of the risk management process
cost-effectiveness
climate conditions adaptation measures

WHO CAN USE THE TOOL

Project promoters of small-scale Public or private investors aiming to
developments better comprehend the risks they
undertake when financing property
development projects or public-use
buildings
 Corporate Use

HOW TO USE THE CLIMATE-PROOFING TOOL

GETTING STARTED
Before starting the climate-proofing exercise go through the technical documentation of the
building (masterplan, design drawings, technical factsheets etc.).

Think of the building anatomy and make a list of its key components (specifying where
possible construction details). Which technical specifications have been used for the design?
What functions does the building perform?

Set the climate-resilience proofing target for each individual hazard class (see Definitions).
While making your choice, it is important to bear in mind that the stricter the climate-resilience
proofing target is, the higher the building protection against climate threat, and maybe the
higher the cost of implementation.

ANALYSIS
Select the type of building for which the assessment is performed among the following
options: Healthcare facility; school; Public & office building, Residential; Small
residential/ office/ shop.

For each hazard class, repeat the process below:

HAZARD EXPOSURE
SENSITIVITY ASSESSMENT
> Determines how exposed
> Focuses on individual building
is the building to the climate
threat under consideration
and how the threat level may
01 components
> Scores their tendency to attract
change in the future due to physical damage or experience
climate change. operational disruption, and their
inherent ability to offset such

02 impacts.

> Combines individual scores to

RISK ASSESSMENT assess the overall building
> Automatically calculates sensitivity to a given climate
risks, combining the outputs threat.
of Step 1 and 2 for all
building components. 03
> Creates a comprehensive ADAPTATION STRATEGY
risk matrix for the building > Proposes a list of alternative
(see Definitions).
adaptation measures from which
04 the user may choose the most
adequate for the protection of
high-risk components.
Repeat steps 1-4 for > Provides a cost-efficiency score
the next hazard-class for each measure.
> Calculates the residual risk (see
Definitions) of the various
building components and the
entire building to a given climate
threat.
OUTCOME
A climate risk overview of the building (before and after the implementation of adaptation measures).

A list of selected adaptation measures that will be implemented to address all significant risks identified.
 Corporate Use

HOW DOES THE TOOL PERFORM THE CLIMATE

RISK AND VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT?
The tool is intended for small building projects. It relies on empirical evidence and hence can be
It performs a simplified likelihood analysis that applied by non-climate experts.
considers the probability of experiencing the most
severe hazard in the project location.
It does not however entail the robustness of a
It uses an indicator-based approach for the quantitative risk analysis which evaluates losses on
characterization of potential climate hazards and exposed elements using probabilistic metrics .
risks, that is simple albeit subjective.

WHAT COULD BE CONSIDERED AS SMALL-SCALE BUILDING

PROJECT THAT COULD USE THE TOOL?

Healthcare Facilities Residential Municipal/Office Educational Buildings

& Hospitals Building & Buildings
Small (e.g. Schools/
Residential/ Universities)
Office/Shop

Buildings < 5,000 m2 and Project cost < 10,000,000 EUR

The definition of small-scale projects is subject to variations based on country-specific context and
regulation and should be defined by the National Managing Authorities.

JASPERS recommendations for building projects that could use this Excel tool are indicative and the
unique characteristics of each project should always be considered. For larger projects a climate
resilience assessment following the methodology in the EC "Technical guidance on the climate
proofing of infrastructure in the period 2021-2027" is recommended.