EN 
FR In 2024
Infrastructure resilience is a critical global challenge
14%
of global GDP growth is at risk
each year from infrastructure
losses to climate change and disasters
Source: CDRI
80%
of this risk is concentrated in the
critical power, transport, and
telecommunications sectors
Source: CDRI
Disaster resilient infrastructure absorbs, responds, and recovers swiftly from disasters; and returns a resilience dividend including:
- $4 return for each $1 invested
- Reduced loss and damage
- Limited service disruption
In order to make our infrastructure resilient in the face of disasters, India is launching a Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. I invite all member states to join this Coalition.”
Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, 2019
CDRI: A Global Coalition
CDRI is dedicated to enhancing the resilience of infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks. It includes national governments, international organizations, and the private sector. Members benefit from access to global expertise, funding, technical support, research opportunities, innovative solutions, and international best practices.
58Â Members
183Â Projects
$21.84mn Funding Disbursed
What we do: Our Initiatives
Delivering
solutions for
DRI
Enabling
resilient
infrastructure
Where we work: 183 Projects
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Resources
CDRI Fellowship Programme Awardees 2025 – 26
CDRI Fellowship Programme 2025 – 26 financially supports 56 fellows from 12 countries working on 20 innovative projects to enhance disaster resilient infrastructure globally. These projects address climate change and diverse hazards such as earthquakes, floods, wildfires, and tsunamis through interdisciplinary approaches.
Highlights include tsunami evacuation modelling in Japan-Peru, digital twin-based coastal resilience in India-Australia, wildfire-resistant bio-composites in India, and flood mapping in Vietnam. Other initiatives explore mangrove restoration in Japan, bushfire standards in Australia, and hospital heatwave readiness in TĂĽrkiye.
Fellowship programme fosters global collaboration, data-driven decision-making, and nature-based solutions, aligning with the SDGs. It empowers researchers and practitioners to develop scalable, sustainable solutions for infrastructure resilience in vulnerable regions worldwide.
Global Infrastructure Resilience Working Paper
The 2025 GIR SIDS Working Paper by CDRI analyzes infrastructure resilience in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) using the Global Infrastructure Risk Model and Resilience Index (GIRI). It highlights SIDS’ vulnerability to climate and geological hazards due to limited land, economic size, and coastal infrastructure concentration.
The paper estimates high Average Annual Losses (AAL), especially in the energy and telecommunications sectors, and projects increased risks from climate change. It proposes a resilience framework based on three capacities, absorb, respond, and recover, and emphasizes financial instruments, institutional reforms, and user resilience.
The Call to Action outlines ten steps to enhance resilience, including data hubs, localized standards, and finance reforms. CDRI’s IRIS program supports 24 projects across 25 SIDS, promoting resilient infrastructure through technical, financial, and policy assistance.
National and Sub-national Disaster Risk and Resilience Assessment and Roadmap for India’s Telecommunications Sector: A Policy Brief
India’s telecom infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to natural hazards and disasters, with over 58% of the land exposed to earthquakes and other hazards. To address this, CDRI, in collaboration with the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India, and the National Disaster Management Authority, developed a Disaster Risk and Resilience Assessment Framework (DRRAF).
The study mapped 0.77 million towers across five high-risk states and proposed resilience measures across technical, operational, policy, financial, and institutional domains.
Key recommendations include enhancing network redundancy, improving hazard data, enabling risk-informed governance, and promoting last-mile connectivity. The framework emphasizes a 3E approach—Explore, Evaluate, Execute—and aims to reduce damage, ensure rapid service restoration, and strengthen sectoral capacity. A robust roadmap and resilience index guide stakeholders in building a disaster-resilient telecom sector aligned with global standards.
IRAX University Consortium
The IRAX (Infrastructure Resilience Academic Exchange) programme, launched by CDRI, invites universities to join a global consortium focused on disaster resilient infrastructure (DRI). It promotes a multidisciplinary, inclusive approach to education, research, and professional development in DRI.
The IRAX-University Consortium connects “Leading Universities” with strong DRI programs and “Associate Universities” seeking to build capacity. Members benefit from curriculum development, research collaboration, faculty/student exchanges, and access to funding.
The initiative aims to bridge academia and industry, fostering innovation and creating skilled professionals. CDRI supports the consortium through strategic initiatives and partnerships, helping mainstream DRI in academic and policy frameworks globally.
Community of Practice (CoP) on Resilient Health Infrastructure
The Community of Practice (CoP) on Resilient Health Infrastructure, launched by CDRI in collaboration with WHO, aims to strengthen healthcare systems against disaster and climate risks.
In response to the 93.1 million people affected by disasters in 2023, the initiative focuses on five key areas: hospital operational preparedness, structural and functional resilience of hospital buildings, resilience of supporting infrastructure (e.g., power, water, telecom), community-level health service continuity, and governance and policy integration.
The CoP serves as a global forum for knowledge exchange, peer learning, and collaboration among experts and institutions. It will operate through thematic working groups and be hosted on CDRI’s DRI Connect platform. Activities include webinars, case study sharing, and the development of resilience tools.
Call to Action: Resilient Infrastructure for SIDS and Coastal Regions
The document is a Call to Action for building resilient infrastructure in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which face devastating losses from extreme weather—up to 226% of GDP.
It outlines the urgent need for disaster resilient coastal infrastructure, which is often unaffordable due to high debt and limited resources. Three expert groups identified barriers in finance, standards, and data.
Key solutions include launching a SIDS Global Data Hub, ensuring 100% early-warning coverage by 2030, developing SIDS-specific design codes, digitizing standards enforcement, and tying finance to resilience compliance.
The action plan also calls for creating resilience units in finance ministries, streamlining accreditation, and building skilled local workforces. The vision is for all SIDS to achieve resilient infrastructure by 2034 through localized standards, open data, and blended finance.
Community of Practice on Extreme Heat in Urban Educational Infrastructure: Heat Smart Schools
CDRI has launched a Community of Practice on Extreme Heat Management in Urban Educational Infrastructure Systems. This project aims to enhance climate resilience in schools by addressing the growing threat of extreme heat.
It brings together educators, experts, and practitioners to co-develop heat-smart strategies that prioritize student safety, comfort, and learning continuity. The focus is on identifying heat-related risks, implementing effective cooling solutions, and adapting school infrastructure to withstand rising temperatures. Through collaborative knowledge-sharing, the initiative promotes sustainable, locally relevant practices and fosters community engagement.
By equipping educational institutions with practical tools and guidelines, it seeks to build proactive, resilient learning environments that can thrive in a warming world. This effort underscores the urgent need for climate-adaptive infrastructure in the education sector, ensuring that schools remain safe, inclusive, and conducive to learning despite environmental challenges.
Community of Practice for Extreme Heat Management in Public Transport Systems: Policymakers’ Summary
This document summarizes CDRI’s CoP on Extreme Heat Management in Public Transport Systems. It provides policymakers with a framework to enhance heat resilience, emphasizing health, safety, environmental, and economic considerations.
Key strategies include establishing baselines through research, stakeholder collaboration, and data-driven decision-making. Practical recommendations involve long-term urban planning, heat-resilient materials, clean energy fleets, and enhanced transit stop climatization. The document outlines interventions across connecting, waiting, and riding phases, such as shaded walkways, cooling systems, and increased service frequency to reduce heat exposure. It also highlights co-benefits like reduced heat stress, lower emissions, and economic gains through increased ridership and infrastructure durability.
By integrating nature-based solutions, predictive maintenance, and effective communication, the guidance promotes sustainable, equitable, and climate-adaptive public transport systems, offering actionable steps for policymakers, researchers, financiers, communities, designers, and operators to address heat-related challenges.
Policy Brief: Developing power sector resilience to extreme weather events in coastal areas
This document outlines Odisha’s comprehensive approach to strengthening power sector resilience against cyclones and floods.
Conducted by CDRI with the Government of Odisha, the study examines transmission and distribution vulnerabilities, revealing critical risks: 30% of substations are coastal, 75% of distribution lines exceed 30 years of age, and 80% of poles remain highly wind sensitive. The study proposes a replicable framework integrating zonation, exposure, and vulnerability analysis.
Key recommendations include updating building codes, wind zonation maps, and data platforms, along with risk-based governance, stakeholder collaboration, and innovative financing through grants and insurance.
Odisha’s experience, shaped by severe cyclones like Fani, offers a valuable model for coastal regions worldwide, demonstrating how data-driven strategies, collaborative governance, and financial innovation can enhance power infrastructure resilience in disaster-prone areas.
Five Steps towards Resilience of Airports
Airports are vital economic hubs but increasingly vulnerable to climate-related disasters. Enhancing resilience is critical with global airport investments projected to reach USD 2.4 trillion by 2040.
The Global Study on Disaster Resilience of Airports by CDRI surveyed 111 airports across 54 countries, highlighting risks like rising sea levels and extreme weather.
CDRI’s “Five Steps towards Resilience of Airports” include periodic vulnerability assessments, comprehensive risk evaluations, understanding risk appetite, stakeholder collaboration, and integrated disaster resilience planning. These measures aim to minimize disruptions, accelerate recovery, and protect infrastructure. However, challenges such as inconsistent risk assessment frameworks and stakeholder coordination persist.
CDRI provides technical assistance, knowledge sharing, and capacity-building to address these gaps, fostering resilient airport ecosystems aligned with global climate objectives. Strengthening disaster resilience is essential to safeguarding air travel and economic stability.
Community of Practice for Extreme Heat Managementin Public Transport Systems
The guidance document focuses on extreme heat management in public transport systems, emphasizing resilience against rising temperatures. It examines the effects of extreme heat on infrastructure, public health, the environment, and the economy, reinforcing public transport’s role in equitable development.
The document presents a framework for heat resilience, including baseline research, stakeholder planning, and integrated design strategies such as nature-based and risk-informed approaches. It outlines practical solutions across transport phases, shaded walkways, cooling systems at stops, and retrofitted vehicles, to minimize heat exposure. It also promotes heat-resilient materials, clean energy fleets, and enhanced communication systems for better preparedness.
Designed for policymakers and operators, the document offers actionable recommendations and real-world examples, such as Helsinki’s optimized transport frequency, to support the creation of sustainable and climate-adaptive public transport networks that ensure safety and efficiency in extreme heat conditions.
Disaster Resilience of Airports: Regional Insights Global Study of 111 Airports
This report examines the disaster resilience of 111 airports worldwide, analyzing regional vulnerabilities and recovery capabilities.
Africa faces flooding as a dominant hazard, with data gaps limiting deeper analysis.
Asia-Pacific airports encounter cyclones, flooding, and extreme heat; 70-80% resume operations within two hours, 90% within 24 hours, and 94% conduct risk assessments.
European airports struggle with extreme storms, winds, and heat, with 65-85% restoring operations quickly and 75% performing risk assessments.
Latin America and the Caribbean airports, impacted by hurricanes and flooding, benefit from strong emergency plans and government policies, enabling swift recovery.
North American airports, vulnerable to extreme heat, storms, and flooding, see 35-90% resuming operations within two hours, with 92% implementing risk assessments.
The study underscores the importance of risk mitigation, vulnerability assessments, and emergency response planning to enhance airport resilience globally.
Mountain Resilience Programme
The Mountain Resilience Programme by CDRI addresses the distinct challenges of infrastructure resilience in mountain regions, which span 27% of Earth’s land, support 14% of the global population, and harbour 25% of terrestrial biodiversity. These areas face remoteness, harsh climates, and fragile ecosystems, demanding tailored, sustainable solutions.
Aligned with the 2030 Agenda and recent UNFCCC priorities, the programme advances four key objectives: enabling multi-hazard risk-informed decision-making, strengthening institutional capacity for risk-sensitive policies, integrating indigenous and ecosystem-based approaches, and fostering collaborative action. It delivers technical assistance, data platforms, capacity building, and knowledge exchange to empower stakeholders in resilient infrastructure development.
By promoting climate adaptation, socio-economic progress, and environmental conservation, the programme ensures mountain communities and ecosystems can thrive amid growing developmental and climate pressures.
Adaptive Pathways for Resilient Infrastructure
In today’s rapidly evolving world, uncertainty is driven by climate change, disaster risks, shifting geopolitics, volatile markets, and changing societal behaviours. Building resilient infrastructure is vital for long-term sustainable development, but demands a shift toward dynamic, adaptive planning. Societies must embrace holistic, systemic, and interdisciplinary approaches to understand disaster causes and impacts, enabling robust decisions that ensure service continuity under stress.
This special issue explores critical gaps and innovative solutions for implementing resilient infrastructure systems. It presents a curated collection of evidence-based research, case studies, and literature reviews aimed at policymakers and practitioners. Together, these contributions offer actionable insights to guide infrastructure development that is not only disaster and climate resilient but also inclusive and future-ready.
Bhutan National Plan for Infrastructure Resilience
The Bhutan National Plan for Infrastructure Resilience, developed by the Royal Government of Bhutan with CDRI and UNDRR, outlines a strategic roadmap to strengthen critical infrastructure against natural and human-made hazards. Using the Global Methodology for Infrastructure Resilience Review, the plan assesses six key sectors—transport, energy, water, ICT, health, and education—through stress testing, policy reviews, and stakeholder consultations. Key vulnerabilities include landslides, earthquakes, floods, and cyber threats.
The plan emphasizes cross-sector coordination, data sharing, and capacity building. It recommends updating infrastructure codes, enhancing governance, and integrating multi-hazard risk assessments. Sector-specific actions include improving road design, ensuring energy safety compliance, enhancing water management, establishing cyber resilience, and strengthening emergency health and education systems. The plan aligns with Bhutan’s 13th Five Year Plan and aims to guide sustainable, resilient infrastructure development across the country.
Roadmap for Infrastructure Resilience in the Republic of Chile
CDRI and UNDRR led roadmap outlines Chile’s strategy to enhance infrastructure resilience against natural and climate-related hazards. Using the Global Methodology for Infrastructure Resilience Review, the study assessed six sectors—water, energy, transport, ICT, health, and education—through risk profiling, governance analysis, and stakeholder engagement.
Chile faces high exposure to earthquakes, droughts, fires, and floods, with water and energy sectors most at risk. Despite strong institutional frameworks and the Climate Change Framework Law, challenges remain in intersectoral coordination, regulatory fragmentation, and private sector oversight.
The roadmap proposes cross-cutting and sector-specific actions, including improved data sharing, capacity building, and policy reforms. Immediate priorities include institutionalizing a cross-sectoral group, piloting regional resilience plans, and creating an integrated data center. The plan emphasizes adaptive governance, community engagement, and long-term investment to ensure sustainable, resilient infrastructure development.
Roadmap for Infrastructure Resilience in the Republic of Madagascar
Madagascar’s Infrastructure Resilience Roadmap, developed by CDRI, UNDRR, and national stakeholders, outlines nearly 50 measures to reduce disaster-related infrastructure losses, estimated at $100 million annually. It addresses vulnerabilities across transport, energy, water, telecommunications, and education sectors.
Key focus areas include enhancing data systems, conducting stress tests, and establishing a centralized digital database. The plan emphasizes capacity building, resilient infrastructure investment, and improved governance through inter-ministerial coordination and regulatory reforms. It promotes public-private partnerships, nature-based solutions, and updated construction standards. Sector-specific risks, like cyclone damage to roads and ports, or drought impacts on hydropower, are analyzed using geospatial data.
The roadmap calls for integrating resilience into national policies, securing sustainable financing, and empowering communities. Implementation requires strong leadership, technical expertise, and collaboration with development partners to ensure infrastructure supports sustainable development and disaster preparedness.
Roadmap for Infrastructure Resilience in the Kingdom of Tonga
Tonga, a small island developing state, faces high vulnerability to climate-related hazards like cyclones, tsunamis, and sea-level rise. This roadmap, developed by CDRI and UNDRR, outlines a strategic plan to enhance infrastructure resilience across water, energy, transport, and telecommunications sectors. Key gaps include weak governance, fragmented policies, limited data systems, and under-resourced institutions.
The roadmap prioritizes actions such as creating a national infrastructure strategy, forming a critical infrastructure working group, and establishing a central disaster data center. Sector-specific recommendations include improving water quality, protecting coastal power assets with nature-based solutions, integrating climate adaptation into road design, and enforcing telecom data sharing.
Emphasizing cross-sector collaboration, data-driven planning, and community engagement, the roadmap aims to reduce disaster impacts, ensure service continuity, and support sustainable development in Tonga’s increasingly hazard-prone environment.
Global study on disaster resilience of airports phase 1
This report by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) explores global airport resilience to natural hazards and disasters. Based on surveys and focus group discussions with 81 airports across 54 countries, it assesses hazard exposure, risk perception, and resilience practices.
Key findings reveal that extreme weather, third-party failures, and climate change pose significant threats. Larger airports face higher risks but often have better recovery mechanisms. While most airports have emergency and recovery plans, gaps remain in vulnerability assessments, stakeholder collaboration, and data access.
The study emphasizes the need for proactive planning, periodic assessments, and integration of resilience into infrastructure design. Recommendations include adopting the TCFD framework, enhancing knowledge sharing, and mandating resilience in airport development policies.
DRILexicon
The DRI Lexicon standardizes definitions for disaster resilient infrastructure, promoting a shared understanding among governments, academia, and practitioners.
Developed through a collaborative process with global experts and available in nine languages, it covers 66 key terms, including “basic infrastructure,” “systemic risk,” and “resilience pathways,” contextualized for infrastructure resilience.
The Lexicon aligns with international frameworks like the Sendai Framework, Paris Agreement, and Sustainable Development Goals, emphasizing systemic risk, sustainability, and resilience. It underscores the infrastructure’s role in human development, the importance of proactive risk management, and the complexities of interdependent systems. Case studies, such as Japan’s earthquake-resistant buildings and the Suez Canal obstruction, illustrate key concepts.
Serving as a valuable resource for policy, research, and practice, the Lexicon helps advance global efforts to build resilient infrastructure and adapt to evolving risks.
CDRI Fellowship Programme Cohort 2021-22
Launched in 2020, the CDRI Fellowship Programme by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure supports cutting-edge research to strengthen global infrastructure resilience against climate and disaster risks.
The 2021–22 cohort featured 21 teams from nine countries, who completed impactful projects despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Their work tackled real-world challenges, ranging from landslide susceptibility mapping and AI-powered disaster communication to flood-resilient floating homes and climate-adaptive urban planning. Research spanned diverse regions including Mumbai, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and the Philippines, addressing hazards like floods, landslides, and earthquakes. Notable outcomes include the “InfraRivChange” web app for river migration monitoring and frameworks for risk-informed school assessments.
The programme fosters peer learning, capacity building, and scalable solutions, contributing to global policy and practice. This document showcases the cohort’s innovative, research-driven strategies for building sustainable, disaster-resilient infrastructure.
Transport Infrastructure Reimagined: Forging Resilient Connections
This report by BCG and CDRI outlines a comprehensive framework to embed climate and disaster resilience into South Asia’s transport infrastructure.
With over $575 billion in transport assets exposed to climate risks, the region faces mounting threats from floods, heatwaves, and other geo-climatic hazards. The report emphasizes a lifecycle approach, embedding resilience from planning to end-of-life, supported by strategic enablers like policy, data, finance, governance, and capacity building.
It proposes six calls to action, including national adaptation plans, climate risk assessments, resilient codes, procurement reforms, skill development, and innovative financing. Case studies from the U.S., China, the Philippines, and Italy illustrate global best practices.
The report urges coordinated action among governments, infrastructure entities, financiers, and civil society to transform South Asia’s transport systems into resilient, future-ready networks that safeguard economic growth, public services, and environmental sustainability.
Global Infrastructure Resilience: Capturing the Resilience Dividend
This report presents a compelling case for investing in resilient infrastructure. It introduces the Global Infrastructure Risk Model and Resilience Index (GIRI), the first global, probabilistic tool estimating financial risk across infrastructure sectors. The report highlights that 60% of the infrastructure needed by 2050 is yet to be built, and without resilience, $732 – $845 billion in annual losses are expected. It emphasizes the resilience dividend—benefits like avoided losses, reliable services, and environmental gains.
Key recommendations include integrating Nature-based Infrastructure Solutions (NbIS), improving governance, mobilizing private capital, and adopting national resilience strategies. The report calls for systemic change, especially in LMICs, where infrastructure deficits and climate risks are greatest. It offers a roadmap to align infrastructure investment with sustainable development, climate goals, and fiscal resilience.
Global Methodology for Infrastructure Resilience Review
The Global Methodology for Infrastructure Resilience Review provides a structured, five-step approach to help countries assess and enhance the resilience of their infrastructure systems.
Developed by UNDRR and CDRI, it begins with mapping institutional governance and identifying key stakeholders across sectors. It then reviews existing policies and regulations to evaluate alignment with disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA). The third step involves stress-testing infrastructure systems against multiple hazards to detect vulnerabilities and interdependencies. Step four assesses current practices using the Principles for Resilient Infrastructure through stakeholder workshops and scorecards. Finally, the methodology guides the development of an implementation plan and final report, consolidating findings and prioritizing actions.
Emphasizing cross-sectoral coordination, data-driven analysis, and stakeholder engagement, the methodology supports countries in mainstreaming DRR into infrastructure planning, design, and governance. It aims to foster resilient, sustainable infrastructure systems that can withstand and adapt to evolving risks.
Physical Climate Risk Assessment Playbook for the Financial Sector
The “Physical Climate Risk Assessment for the Financial Sector” playbook, developed by CDRI and supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, guides financial institutions (FIs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to assess and manage physical climate risks.
It outlines a structured approach—awareness, assessment, and action—emphasizing the hazard-exposure-vulnerability (HEV) framework and climate value-at-risk (VaR) modelling. The playbook promotes integrating climate risk into governance, strategy, and credit processes, while highlighting opportunities in green finance. It addresses challenges like data gaps, lack of standardization, and limited macro-level guidance.
Tools like the Global Infrastructure Risk Model and Resilience Index (GIRI) support localized risk analysis. The document calls for collaboration among regulators, policymakers, and FIs to institutionalize climate risk assessments and unlock financing for climate-resilient infrastructure, ensuring long-term economic and environmental sustainability in LMICs.
