Warehouses are often located on floodplains and low-cost land near rivers or coasts and urban peripheries with limited drainage infrastructure. Logistics hubs tend to be clustered in ports, airports, and intermodal zones (often coastal). This increases exposure to flooding, storm surge, and sea-level rise. Fragility is a function of fixed, immobile assets (cannot relocate quickly); high capital intensity (slow recovery from damage); dense inventory storage (high loss potential); and single-point-of-failure hubs (e.g. mega distribution centres).
Business impacts can widen when disruption at one hub halts inbound goods and downstream distribution. Just-in-time supply chains can amplify shortages, while insurance and recovery delays can extend downtime.
Vulnerabilities
What could affect infrastructure & assets?
The climate and nature pressures affecting infrastructure & assets.
Warehousing and logistics infrastructure are exposed to a range of climate and nature-related hazards, including flooding, extreme heat, storms, sea-level rise, and land instability. These hazards can directly damage warehouses, distribution centres, ports, and handling equipment, while also degrading transport infrastructure such as roads, railways and terminals.
Acute events can cause sudden operational shutdowns, while chronic changes such as increasing temperatures or coastal erosion can progressively weaken assets and reduce their reliability over time.
How exposed are infrastructure & assets?
How exposed infrastructure & assets are to climate change.
The degree of infrastructure and asset exposure is shaped by location, design, and surrounding environmental conditions. Facilities and transport assets situated in flood-prone areas, coastal zones, or regions experiencing high climate variability are more exposed to disruption.
Proximity to critical transport nodes and dependence on key corridors can further increase exposure if those nodes are vulnerable to hazards.
Limited protective infrastructure such as flood defences, drainage systems, or natural buffers can also heighten the likelihood that climate events will directly affect operations.
What dependencies do infrastructure & assets have?
How much do businesses rely on infrastructure & asset reliability.
Infrastructure and assets vary in their sensitivity to disruption depending on their design standards, condition and operational role. Older warehouses, poorly maintained transport infrastructure, and assets not built to withstand extreme weather are more vulnerable to damage.
Facilities that rely on precise environmental controls, or that operate near full capacity with limited redundancy, are particularly sensitive to disruption. A lack of alternative routes, backup facilities, or adaptive design features can amplify the impact of even moderate climate stresses.
How could disruption spread for infrastructure & assets?
How infrastructure & asset disruption creates wider knock-on effects.
Damage or inaccessibility can lead to delays in handling and distribution, reduced storage capacity, and increased repair and maintenance costs. Disruptions can also cascade through supply chains, affecting delivery performance and customer service levels.
Over time, repeated exposure can drive higher insurance costs, necessitate capital investment in resilience or relocation, and ultimately affect operational efficiency, cost structures, and competitiveness.
