Extreme weather, climate-induced events that are episodic (e.g., hurricane, heatwave) or chronic (e.g., sea-level rise, temperature change) in nature, is occurring with increasing frequency and severity. This places a growing and time-sensitive need on the development and implementation of adaptation policies and practices. To motivate adaptive behavior, however, requires the ability to deliver improved risk-informed decision-making capability. At the crux of this challenge is the provision of full and accurate loss and damage accounting of the overall impact of an extreme weather event, enabling the business case to be made for adaptation investment. We define loss and damage as the manifestation of impacts associated with extreme weather that negatively affect human and natural systems. Progress in the development of adequate loss and damage accounting has been hampered by issues, such as discrepancies in conceptual frameworks, problems associated with data quantity and quality, and lack of standardized analysis methodologies. In this paper, we have discussed the conceptual basis for measuring loss and damage, reviewed the state of loss and damage data collection and modeling, and offered a narrative on the future direction of the practice.

Extreme weather and climate change can have a significant impact on all types of infrastructure and assets, regardless of location, with the potential for human casualties, physical damage to assets, disruption of operations, economic and community distress, and environmental degradation. This paper describes a methodology for using extreme weather and climate data to identify climate-related risks and to quantify the potential impact of extreme weather events on certain types of transportation infrastructure as part of a vulnerability screening assessment. This screening assessment can be especially useful when a large number of assets or large geographical areas are being studied, with the results enabling planners and asset managers to undertake a more detailed assessment of vulnerability on a more targeted number of assets or locations. The methodology combines climate, weather, and impact data to identify vulnerabilities to a range of weather and climate related risks over a multi-decadal planning period. The paper applies the methodology to perform an extreme weather and climate change vulnerability screening assessment on transportation infrastructure assets for the State of Tennessee. This paper represents the results of one of the first efforts at spatial vulnerability assessments of transportation infrastructure and provides important insights for any organization considering the impact of climate and weather events on transportation or other critical infrastructure systems.