A report/blog by Ian Parke FICE, ICE Policy Fellow and Immediate Past President of the ASCE UK Section, reflecting on the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) panel debate “Making Resilience Count: The Economic Value of Climate Readiness,” held in London on 9 September 2026. The discussion explores climate readiness, infrastructure resilience, adaptation, and the economic value of investing in resilient infrastructure.
Key points from the report include:
• Climate change is increasingly moving from a future preparedness issue to a present-day challenge requiring action and adaptation.
• The debate considered whether society can afford to delay investment in climate resilience and how infrastructure should be planned for increasingly uncertain future conditions.
• Drawing on his experience of the Thames Barrier, Ian reflects on the challenges of long-term infrastructure design and changing assumptions over asset life and levels of protection.
• The discussion highlighted the importance of holistic, practical solutions, strategic national leadership and meaningful local stakeholder involvement.
• Better economic investment models may be required to support resilient infrastructure, with Ian also raising the potential role of AI in this area.
• Ian identifies human resources and skills as an important issue requiring greater attention if future resilience objectives are to be achieved.
Author: Ian Parke FICE, ICE Policy Fellow and Immediate Past President, ASCE UK Section.
For further reading, please see the full ICE report:
Making Resilience Count: The Economic Value of Climate Readiness
ICE – Making Resilience Count report
https://www.ice.org.uk/media/z1ipros4/making-resilience-count-the-economic-value-of-climate-readiness-may-2026_final.pdf
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Hamedreza Esmaeili TechCIOB, M.ASCE
Civil Engineering
United Kingdom
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