| dc.description.abstract | When Klima 2050 started out in 2015 it was the largest initiative launched in Norway to look into climate adaptation of buildings and infrastructure in order to reduce societal risk related to enhanced precipitation and flood water.
Klima 2050 has proved to be synonymous with excellence within risk reduction through climate adaptation of buildings and infrastructure and it has been an effective instrument for the development and implementation of adaptive innovations for the Centre partners and society.
The main goal has been to reduce the societal risks associated with climate changes and enhanced precipitation and flood water exposure within the built environment. Emphasis has been placed on development of moisture-resilient buildings, stormwater management, blue-green solutions, measures for reducing the risk posed by water-triggered landslides, socio-economic incentives and decision-making processes. Both extreme weather and gradual changes in the climate has been addressed.
The consortium has comprised research partners, private companies, and public partners. The companies and public partners represent key parts of Norwegian building industry; consulting engineers, construction companies, estate developers, producers of construction materials and authorities, i.e the main value chain of Klima 2050's fields of research.
The Centre has produced a range of significant results within a broad set of topics relevant for risk reduction of building and infrastructure in respect of climate change. Predicting the impact a changing climate will have on buildings and infrastructure, is the first step in the process of finding suitable adaptation measures. Somewhat surprising research by the Centre reveals that climate-model-induced uncertainties are often under-communicated, due to either insufficient analysis or neglect.
On the building side, facades have been analysed. Harsh climatic conditions in the Nordic countries are being worsened by climate change, which increases the moisture load on building façades. New types of defects are being observed in air cavities in well-designed and well-built wooden façades and roofs, and more concern is necessary in planning, design, and construction. A building climate adaptation framework for Norway has been developed and the award “Statens pris for byggkvalitet” (The National Award for Building Quality) was given the Centre pilot project building ZEB Laboratory.
As climate change in the Nordic region brings an increase in extreme precipitation events, blue-green roofs have emerged as a solution for stormwater management. The addition of blue-green layers on a conventional compact roof represents several multi-disciplinary technical challenges and quality risks that must be managed. A framework intended to be used to reduce the building technical risks of blue-green roofs, by addressing the most important quality risk elements have been developed.
Green infrastructures have emerged as sustainable technologies for urban stormwater management. The Centre has advanced the national and international research in hydrological modelling, and through documentation of nature-based solutions (NBS) as mitigation measures through the many pilot projects. Just as important, a framework has been developed owing to the need for a systematic documentation of the applied NBS in accordance with the principles of infrastructure asset management and a newly adopted Norwegian Standard.
Landslide risk is increasing in wetter climate and mitigation is limited by data scarcity. The Centre has strongly contributed to the rapid development of investigation of how machine learning models and satellite images are most useful for landslide detection. Further information on how flexible barriers may be installed upstream in debris flow channels to reduce entrainment of bed material in landslide situations has been provided. And in more general terms, an innovative webtool for landslide risk mitigation has been improved to include many nature-based solutions (NBS) for mitigating landslide risk.
Increased knowledge is necessary for the responsible stakeholders to enable them to take the right decisions, in both public and private organizations. A national web portal (Kunnskapsbanken) with access to all available data relevant to climate change adaptation has been launched in Norway. Through digitalization and close cooperation with insurance companies, the data in the web portal will improve. Klima 2050 has contributed to accelerating the development continuously by encouraging data sharing among insurance companies, the value of insurance data, and the potential to use these data to predict events. We have also addressed the municipalities' initial perceptions and experiences. Finally, an important contribution has been initiated in making a climate adaptation monitoring framework for municipalities in Norway.
The building and construction sector consists of more than 50,000 companies and employs about 250,000 people, all of whom must contribute to the best of their ability towards reducing societal risk and adapting buildings and infrastructure to the threats posed by climate change. Much of our research is made available to the sector and those who work there.
We have taken part in several projects and co-creational initiatives with players in the private and public sectors and other research centres, focusing on issues of interest also to many stakeholders outside the Centre’s partnership group. We have developed guidelines that are of benefit to the municipalities and have participated in the work to revise BREEAM-NOR, which is the most frequently applied building certification system i Norway. We link our research to other Norwegian initiatives and projects such as the Natural Hazards Forum, the Norwegian water sector organisation Norsk Vann, and SINTEF Building Research Design Guides. These are important fora for the dissemination of our research results.
In total, the Centre established 16 pilot projects. Pilots have been the Centre's main arena for product and process development and the testing of research results. They have been an effective means of disseminating know-how generated at the Centre. Such projects have also been excellent opportunities to showcase the Consortium. Klima 2050 has resulted in close to 1500 scientific articles, reports, popular science articles, chronicles, and presentations, where some articles have received international awards. Klima 2050 researchers have given a number of keynote/invited lectures. 18 PhD and 135 MSc candidates will complete their theses in connection to Klima 2050 and 7 pos.docs have been engaged in the Centre, securing national and international dissemination of knowledge about risk reduction and climate adaptation into planning and construction processes and in society. The Klima 2050 researchers and partners have engaged several national and international (EU) activities, and the Centre has exchanged incoming and outgoing researchers.
Throughout the lifetime of the Centre, the Board and management have placed a major emphasis on innovation and the benefits of research to the Centre’s user partners and society in general. Teamwork and effective interaction between partners have been key factors. The choice of research topics, our extensive use of thematic meetings, and investment in pilot projects have been just some of the actions we have taken to raise awareness that research at the Centre shall result in innovations in the public and private sectors, as well as for the research partners.
Norwegian society is becoming increasingly aware of the need to adapt to climate change. The awareness has changed considerably during the 8 years of the Centre period. Large and small municipalities, companies, international actors, and the public have observed many of the activities taking place within the research centre and are getting in touch asking for advice and support in their work. We can clearly see that Klima 2050 Centre activities will continue, and become even more important into the foreseeable future. This was also stated in a new white paper this month (Meld. St. 26 (2022–2023)). The Centre is initiating a network focusing on climate adaptation in the built environment to maintain momentum and to be able to proceed working together. The range of activities needed to research and develop topics for reduction of societal risk through climate adaptation of buildings and infrastructure, the knowledge and solutions needed, and the initiation and evaluation of the 16 pilot projects realized within the program period would not have been possible without the eight-year support from the Research Council of Norway and Klima 2050 partners under the Centres for Research-based Innovation scheme. | en_US |
