Climate risk and challenge

Climate change phenomena, sometimes referred to as “climate risk,” have an impact on INERIS' areas of expertise. Industrial accidents, air pollution, cave-ins... The Institute incorporates climate factors into all of its work on environmental risks.

NaTech risk

In terms of accidental risk, climate change has introduced a new form of risk at the intersection of natural and technological risks. NaTech risks are defined as “the impact that a natural disaster can have on all or part of an industrial facility—an impact that could cause an accident, the consequences of which could affect people, property, or the environment outside the industrial site.”

The NaTech approach differs from traditional technological risk analysis in its exceptional dimensions, which require the assessment criteria to be adapted. The Institute is therefore working on taking into account the potential impact of floods, earthquakes, and lightning on industrial facilities at risk.

Air pollution and climate

Climate change phenomena are also taken into account in the area of chronic risk: for example, air quality management incorporates the interaction between global warming and air pollution.

Climate change, which alters the physical characteristics of the atmosphere, influences the formation of air pollutants (for example, by increasing the frequency of extreme weather events).

Conversely, certain pollutants influence the climate by disrupting the balance of energy entering and leaving the Earth's atmosphere (also known as the radiative balance): indirectly, they can therefore promote or limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate and ground movements

Climate change, which contributes to extreme natural phenomena, is taken into account in work on soil and subsoil risks. At INERIS, the impact of climate phenomena is studied in the field of ground movement risks.

Changes in precipitation patterns and temperatures could have an impact on the stability of rock slopes, particularly in mountainous areas (due to changes in temperatures and precipitation patterns), but also on the stability of underground cavities (due to greater variability in groundwater levels, which can weaken the pillars supporting the cavities).

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