From HSWire an article re infrastructure vulnerability and citations to 2 new reports.

Two U.S. government reports released last Thursday warn that U.S. infrastructure is vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The reports contain compilations of technical documents supporting the National Climate Assessment. The Assessment is a review of climate impact on U.S. infrastructure, prepared by thirteen government agencies. The U.S. Global Change Research Program will release the Assessment in April 2014.

Island Press has published the full-length version of the reports – the first one focusing on energy, the second one on infrastructure more broadly.

Thomas Wilbanks, a research fellow at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and lead author and editor of the reports, says climate-fueled weather disasters could cause “cascading system failures” unless changes are adopted to minimize such effects. Wilbanks notes that the infrastructure-focused report is the first attempt to review climate implications across all sectors and regions. The report analyzes how damage to one infrastructure sector can impact other infrastructure sectors, rather than isolating specific types of infrastructure.