3 questions to Nishtha Manocha (EDHEC) on the ClimaTech Project

Built and supported by the EDHEC Climate Institute (ECI), ClimaTech (1) is rooted in EDHEC's ecosystem of finance and climate finance. This unique initiative is a world-class innovation which focuses on advancing understanding of technology-based solutions that help infrastructure assets reduce carbon emissions and enhance resilience to climate risks.

• Nov., 5 2025, 1 pm (GMT) : join the webinar "What Really Works for Infrastructure Resilience and Decarbonisation? Inside ClimaTech’s Global Framework of Climate Solutions"

You’ve just spent months, if not years, trying to understand the meaning and consequences of climate risks to infrastructure. Why did you do that?

Reliable infrastructure is essential to the smooth functioning of society, as it supports economic activity, public health and quality of life. 

Think about everything you do in a day: making your coffee and toasting your bread in the morning – that's the energy sector; taking your shower and brushing your teeth – that's the natural resources and utilities sector; taking the underground or bus to work – that's the transport sector, and so on.

Due to their complexity and size, their impressive distribution across the territory – including a strong presence on the coast (2) – but also their direct and indirect contribution to CO2 emissions, infrastructure assets are clearly identified as particularly vulnerable to climate change. To be more precise, I would say that it is particularly vulnerable and exposed to what are known as transition risks on the one hand, and physical risks on the other.

Transition risks cover everything that needs to be done to shift our model to a low-carbon economy: political and legal changes, technological and market developments, etc. We have estimated that for private infrastructure assets alone, the potential loss could reach 30% of their value (approximately $600 billion) by 2050 (3). Physical risks are linked to the increasing frequency and severity of climate hazards, which can cause sudden and significant damage to assets, disrupt operations, reduce production and increase maintenance costs. We have highlighted here that, in the absence of effective measures to decarbonise the global economy, some infrastructure portfolios could lose up to 54% of their value in extreme cases (4).

Overall, however, existing tools are inadequate, and professionals working and investing in these sectors are not mistaken: only 16% of them believe that the current state of knowledge on climate risks allows for a true measurement of their impact on infrastructure investments (5). 

That is why we are launching ClimaTech, as it bridges this gap. Backed by two years of research and eight peer-reviewed papers, it provides the first and world's largest systematic, evidence-based repository of strategies to reduce both transition and physical climate risks to infrastructure assets.

How is the Climatech project structured?

As we’ve seen, without proper scrutiny, investments by private and public investors may be exposed to significant risks; we are talking here about physical destruction, maintenance, operational difficulties – leading to considerable loss in values, but also less investment in the technologies of tomorrow.

So, in a word, inadequate management and ineffective climate strategies could lead to a series of problematic events that are less costly to anticipate than to manage once we are forced to act.

Back in 2018, EDHEC Infrastructure and Private Assets Research Institute built a common classification of infrastructure assets and companies, called TICCS® (6), which became since an international standard used by some of the largest investors in infrastructure in the world. 

That’s the first thing we’ve done: putting ClimaTech in these footsteps by organising our approach into 8 superclasses, 35 industry classes and 101 subclasses. For off-shore wind power turbines (subclasses) for example, it means looking at wind power generation (industry) in the renewable power field (superclass).

From there, gathering and analysing an extensive review of 200+ academic papers, technical documents, and government reports, we’ve analysed strategies and corresponding technologies on the two areas mentioned above: Decarbonisation (i.e transition) and Physical Risks reduction. Why did we do that? Well, to create a framework that provides comparable assessment of approaches to reduce in fine these risks across infrastructure asset types.

What does ClimaTech offer in concrete terms, and to whom?

Let’s be clear: ClimaTech is not just a tool — it is a first of a kind comprehensive, evidence-based framework designed by engineers and economists to help investors, asset managers, and regulators identify and evaluate effective strategies for mitigating climate risks in infrastructure.

We offer two main elements that complement each other very well.

Firstly, a comprehensive database compiling the strategies and technologies for adaptation and risk mitigation I talked about. It is designed to help infrastructure assets decarbonize and enhance resilience to climate change. 

Secondly, a series of analytical publications offering sector-by-sector insights into how these strategies are implemented. Together, these resources provide asset owners, investors, and managers with scientifically robust and actionable guidance to advance sustainable and resilient infrastructure.

Last but not least: ClimaTech has established a Peer Review Committee—a cross-sectoral panel of experts and stakeholders—to validate its database for relevance, robustness, and practical value. The Committee includes representatives from international financial institutions (World Bank, EIB, OECD), environmental and governmental bodies (WWF, Ofgem), leading engineering firms (Buro Happold, Arcadis), investors (Gore Street Capital), and academic partners (Imperial College, Columbia University). This peer review process ensures rigorous quality control, data refinement, and strategic alignment with global standards, bridging research and industry insights.

ClimaTech is also a cornerstone of Scientific Climate Ratings, a new climate rating agency by the EDHEC Climate Institute, advancing transparent, science-based climate risk analysis. 

And this is only the beginning. We are continuously expanding ClimaTech’s coverage to new sectors and data dimensions (Real Estate, Corporates…). Researchers, investors, and journalists interested in collaborating are warmly invited to get in touch with us.

References

(1) See "ClimaTech Project - The Business Case for Implementing Efficient Climate Risk-Reduction Strategies" on climateinstitute.edhec.edu

(2) Turning the Tide: Measuring Climate Risk to Transform Coastal Infrastructure Resilience (Oct. 2025), ECI Publication. Anthony Schrapffer, PhD, Scientific Director, EDHEC Climate Institute - https://climateinstitute.edhec.edu/news/turning-tide-measuring-climate-risk-transform-coastal-infrastructure-resilience

(3) Highway to Hell: Climate Risks will cost hundreds of billions to investors in infrastructure before 2050 (Sept. 2023), EDHECinfra Publication, Noël Amenc, Frédéric Blanc-Brude, Abhishek Gupta, Bertrand Jayles, Jeanette Orminski, Darwin Marcelo - https://climateinstitute.edhec.edu/publications/highway-hell-climate-risks-will-cost-hundreds-billions-investors-infrastructure-2050

[#dataviz] Climate change could be very costly for those who have invested in infrastructure (July 2024), EDHEC Vox - https://www.edhec.edu/en/research-and-faculty/edhec-vox/dataviz-climate-change-could-be-very-costly-for-investors-in-infrastructure

(4) EIPA Report It's getting physical (August 2023). Frédéric Blanc-Brude, Abhishek Gupta, Nishtha Manocha, Noël Amenc, Bertrand Jayles, Darwin Marcelo - https://edhec.infrastructure.institute/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/p1102.pdf

See also the associated EDHEC Vox article (Oct. 2023), published in The Conversation France & Europe: Extreme weather could burn many investment portfolios by mid-century - https://www.edhec.edu/en/research-and-faculty/edhec-vox/extreme-weather-could-burn-many-investment-portfolios-mid-century

(5) EIPA Report Physical climate risk survey: those in the infrastructure investment industry are concerned and lack data (January 2024). By Noël Amenc, Frédéric Blanc-Brude and Alice James - https://publishing.edhecinfra.com/papers/2024-1_physical%7C_climate_risk_survey.pdf

See also the associated EDHEC Vox article (May 2024): Climate change: Why are infrastructure investors aware of the risk while failing to measure it? - https://www.edhec.edu/en/research-and-faculty/edhec-vox/climate-change-infrastructure-investors-aware-risk-while-failing-to-measure-it

(6) The Infrastructure Company Classification Standard (TICCS®) (March 2020) - https://www.edhecinfraprivateassets.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/TICCS_2020.pdf