The Climate Resilience of Critical Infrastructural Network Sectors: An interdisciplinary method for assessing formal responsibilities for climate adaptation in critical infrastructural network sectors

Abstract

This chapter presents and applies an interdisciplinary (law & governance) method for assessing the climate resilience of critical infrastructural network sectors. Broadly applicable, this methodological framework comprises three phases, within which six logically arranged steps are set out. The central assessment criterion for climate resilience, the expected effectiveness of responsibilities for climate adaptation, is operationalized through six indicators: awareness, proactivity, appropriateness, explicitness, transparency, and legitimacy. Apart from academic purposes, this assessment framework can prove useful to law and policy makers in assessing and (re)developing relevant arrangements governing critical infrastructural network sectors. To give a view of the functioning of the assessment framework, this framework is applied in two case studies addressing the Dutch electricity and internet sectors. These case studies show a rather low level of expected effectiveness of responsibilities for climate adaptation in both sectors. Apart from their exemplary purpose, these case studies provide insights into potential pitfalls, which can be relevant for increasing climate resilience of other network sectors in the Netherlands, other EU Member States, and abroad.