Sunshine Coast and Noosa Regional Critical Infrastructure Failure and Cascading Climate Risks Project

Advancing our regional partnership to better plan for complex climate risks.

In recognition of the urgent response required in the face of a changing climate, Sunshine Coast Council and Noosa Council have again joined forces under the Queensland Reconstruction Authority’s Queensland Resilience and Risk Reduction Fund 2022-23, to further future-proof our region in the $1.1 million Sunshine Coast and Noosa Regional Critical Infrastructure Failure and Cascading Climate Risks Project.

Floods, bushfires, heatwaves, droughts, coastal erosion and storms are becoming more severe and frequent due to climate change. The February-March 2022 flood event and the 2019-2020 bushfires have made it clear that climate change is already impacting our livelihoods, lifestyles, natural environment, assets and infrastructure and our health and wellbeing.

The Regional Climate Action Roadmap (RCAR) project demonstrated that our critical infrastructure networks such as electricity, water, wastewater, telecommunications, and road transport are at risk of disruption and failure during a disaster, leading to cascading impacts on Council and community.

This project sets out to explore these cascading climate risks to Council services arising from the failure of our energy, telecommunications, water, wastewater, and road transport networks. Through engagement with critical infrastructure providers and other stakeholders, the Project will identify highest priority risks as well as proactive resilience measures that help ensure Councils can continue to deliver reliable and high-quality services to our communities into the future.

Delivery of the project provides both Councils with the opportunity to:

  • Engage with critical infrastructure providers as the key owners and managers of most critical infrastructure, in recognition of the shared responsibility we have in reducing strategic risks
  • Progress Councils’ climate risk management work
  • Expand Councils’ current business continuity and disaster planning; and
  • Inform businesses and community regarding critical infrastructure failure and cascading climate risks relevant to the region.

Funding to progress this initiative has been secured through the Queensland Resilience and Risk Reduction Fund (QRRRF) of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA).

The project aims to be completed at the end of June 2025.

A timeline for the delivery of the Project is provided below.

Sunshine Coast and Noosa Regional Critical Infrastructure Failure and Cascading Climate Risks Project

Regional Critical Infrastructure Failure and Cascading Climate Risks Project

Provide a solid foundation

Establish the project and connect with key critical infrastructure providers across the region.

Baseline Stocktake

Baseline assessment of current knowledge on regional critical infrastructure failure & cascading risks in our region.

Critical infrastructure failure scenarios​

Develop future climate hazard scenarios and critical infrastructure failure scenarios to enable the assessment of risks to Council services.

Assess cascading climate risks​

Assess climate risks to Council services from critical infrastructure failure and assess cascading impacts to community.

Preparedness and adaptation measures

Identify practical preparedness and adaptation measures that Councils could implement to reduce their climate and disaster risks.

High level economic business case​

Deliver a high level economic business case to guide decision making on implementation of resilience measures.

Sharing learnings

Evaluate project outcomes and share project learnings to improve best practice climate risk management within the broader industry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should we focus on cascading and compounding risks?

We live in a highly connected world where climate risks and our responses to them can be transmitted from one system or sector to another, creating new risks, and changing the severity of existing risks. The interactions among risks matter because they can increase (or decrease) the overall level of risk. And the resulting overall risk may be very different from the sum of the individual parts. This is particularly relevant to our critical infrastructure networks, as a failure to respond to cascading and compounding risks is likely to disrupt and adversely impact on our communities, economy and Councils.

Why are we planning for a warming and changing climate?

A warming climate is a threat multiplier. It does not pose one single risk, but rather it presents multiple, interacting risks to our region. Councils have a responsibility to work with all stakeholders to plan and manage for risks facing their local government areas.

What are compounding climate risks and why should we be concerned?

“Compound risks” are when two or more climate risk hazards (not all of which are necessarily extreme) affect each other, increasing the overall severity of risk. For example, a catchment flooding event occurring at the same time as a storm tide. Compound risks are of particular concern when we are exposed to multiple climate hazards occurring simultaneously or in close sequence.

What are cascading climate risks and why should we be concerned?

'Cascading climate risks' materialise when a climate impact travels through systems, across sectors and borders. For example, if an extreme storm disrupts electricity which then compromises telecommunications within Council’s Local Disaster Coordination Centre, leading to the inability to effectively respond to the impacts of the disaster for local communities. In general, cascading climate risks are poorly understood and seldom assessed or managed, yet the cascade effect is inevitable and likely to result in an unforeseen chain of events.