Engineers urged to adapt to climate change

In a report, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers has called for changes to the way in which Britain designs buildings, transport and energy infrastructure in order to prepare for sea-level rise and other effects of climate change

Using models based on a ‘business as usual approach’, the IME’s report predicts a two-metre rise in sea levels by 2250 and a seven-metre rise towards the end of the millennium.

‘The two-metre sea-level rise projected to occur in the latter half of the 23rd century would inundate significant areas of the UK, including the Norfolk Broads and parts of London,’ warns the report, which calls for the development of new rail networks to replace those in river valleys at risk from flooding, new subterranean reservoirs to prevent evaporation, and greater investment in alternative-energy research.

April 2009