In 2019, the G20 endorsed the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment, emphasising the need for projects that are economically viable, socially inclusive, environmentally sustainable and resilient to natural disasters. By adhering to these principles, policy makers and investors can ensure that infrastructure investments not only drive economic growth but also contribute to broader societal well-being and environmental stewardship.

Hurricanes battering coastal regions, wildfires ravaging vast areas of land and seismic upheavals wreaking havoc on urban centres: recent events have been highlighting the vulnerabilities inherent in our current infrastructure systems. Such challenges call for innovation and adaptation, not only to mitigate the impacts of natural disasters but also to pave the way for long-term sustainability and prosperity. The findings of this report will help policy makers, engineers and stakeholders embrace a proactive, concerted approach to reach those goals: a timely contribution to actions towards a safer, more sustainable future for all.

As climate change continues to alter natural hazard patterns, ensuring infrastructure resilience to natural disasters emerges as a global priority. This requires strengthening the prevention, reaction and rebuilding capacities of governments, the private sector and civil society. In such an endeavour, technology, collaboration and data emerge as linchpins, as they determine the quality of prevention, reaction and re-building efforts. In turn, adequate financing and investment, technical expertise and regulatory frameworks shape the effectiveness of preparedness and responses.

As climate change continues to alter natural hazard patterns, there is an urgent need to strengthen infrastructure resilience to natural disasters. Technology, data and collaboration, enabled by adequate financing, investment, technical expertise and regulatory frameworks, are key to increase prevention, reaction and rebuilding capacities. While building resilience to natural disasters is a global challenge, developing countries, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are among the most vulnerable and require targeted support. Increased international partnerships and enhanced efforts from development banks are imperative to bolster infrastructure resilience in developing countries and support their journey towards sustainable development.

Ensuring infrastructure resilience to natural disasters is highly context-specific, but some universal principles apply. Based on global good practices, this chapter presents seven guiding principles for enhancing infrastructure resilience to natural disasters. It discusses why and how to: i) Adopt a life cycle approach, factoring in resilience throughout the entire lifespan of projects from planning and design to operation and maintenance; ii) Align interests through effective collaboration among stakeholders to ensure collective action towards resilience goals; iii) Conduct comprehensive risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities and develop robust mitigation strategies; iv) Measure impacts to understand the consequences of natural disasters and guide informed decision making; v) Invest in capacity building and knowledge management to empower individuals and organisations with the skills and information needed to plan, implement and operate resilient infrastructure; vi) Carry out strategic preventive maintenance; and vii) Deploy cutting-edge technology and fostering innovation in design to enhance infrastructure resilience and adaptability to changing environmental conditions.

This chapter examines seven concrete infrastructure projects from Colombia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mozambique and the United States, each offering valuable insights into effective strategies and practices to enhance prevention, reaction and rebuilding efforts for resilience to natural disasters. It discusses the restoration of a degraded ecosystem and the upgrading fluvial transport systems in Colombia; the construction a power station in a flood-prone area in Ghana; the use of risk assessment to enhance prevention capacities in Mozambique; the adaptation of assets design and increasing user awareness in urban public transport in Indonesia; the integration of environmental preservation criteria in highway construction in India; the incentives and regulations for aligning interests and achieving cost-sharing in a flood-diversion project in the United States; and the use of strategic preventive maintenance and digital technology for infrastructure resilience in Japan. Through step-by-step analysis of these infrastructure projects this chapter provides valuable in-depth lessons for governments, the private sector, and civil society on how to effectively prevent, react and re-build to ensure infrastructure resilience to natural disasters.