Addressing climate change in standards

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Despite multiple efforts to reduce GHG emissions, reductions are too small to keep global warming well below 2 K, preferably at 1.5 K. Instead, the increase probably reaches 2.9 K by the end of this century [1]. Therefore, adaptation to climate change is essential to reduce the negative consequences.

Urban areas with their high population and infrastructure density are specifically vulnerable to extreme weather. The urban fabric increases its vulnerability to (severe) weather events. For example, land-sealing hinders the infiltration of rain water and thus increases the probability for flash floods; three-dimensional buildings with their high heat storage capacity lead to higher temperatures in the city at night compared to surrounding areas. Values might be about 3 K higher in the summer climate average [2] but can reach values of up to 10 K in specific situations [3]. The German Climate Adaptation law states that from 1^st of July 2024 adaptation by already occurring or foreseeable climate changes has to be considered in planning and decisions by institutions with public responsibilities. The law names several sectors to act on, for example local heat island effects. The law also states that technical laws or accepted standards are to be taken into account. This requires joint efforts for considering adaptation by the committees working on newly developed or updated standards.

The approach followed by VDI and other organisations for standardisation is briefly introduced, and new standards, relevant for assessing climate and its changes (e.g. calculation of climate indicators, how to perform urban climate simulations, heat action plan) are presented.

[1] UNEP: Emissions Gap Report 2023. https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2023, last used 30.03.2024

[2] WMO (2023): Guidance on Measuring, Modelling and Monitoring the Canopy Layer Urban Heat Is-land (CL‑UHI). K.H. Schlünzen, S. Grimmond, A. Baklanov (edts.), World Meteorological organisa-tion, WEATHER CLIMATE WATER. 2023 edition. WMO-No. 1292, pp.88. https://library.wmo.int/idurl/4/58410 last used 12.04.2024.

[3] Kuttler W.; Weber S. (2023): Characteristics and phenomena of the urban climate. Meteorol. Z. (Contrib. Atm. Sci.), 32, No. 1, 15–47, doi: 10.1127/metz/2023/1153.