PRESS RELEASE
BEI/10/8
27 January 2010
EIB participates in research on the impact of extreme
weather events on European transport systems
It is possible to both predict and mitigate disruptions in the transportation of
people and goods
The European Investment Bank is a member of the EU Consultative Board, which has launched
a research project to study the effects of extreme weather events on the safety and reliability of
transport systems. The project’s Consultative Board also includes representatives from the
Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications, the OECD, the insurance company Allianz
and the Polytechnic University of Turin.
The Extreme Weather impacts on European Networks of Transport (EWENT) project, which is
coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, will also estimate the cost effects of
weather-related disruptions. The project is motivated by the concern at the increase in extreme
weather events caused by climate change. The participants in the EWENT project coordinated
by VTT are: the German Aerospace Center (Germany), Institute of Transport Economics
(Norway), Foreca Consulting Ltd (Finland), Finnish Meteorological Institute (Finland),
Meteorological Service of Cyprus (Cyprus), Österreichische Wasserstrassen GmbH (Austria),
European Severe Storms Laboratory (Germany) and World Meteorological Organisation (UN).
The EWENT project supports ways of mitigating the effects of extreme weather events on the
transport of people and goods. The study will focus on the safety and reliability of air, ground
and water transport.
The project will identify dangerous extreme weather events and estimate their probability and
effects. It will also calculate the cost effects of traffic disruptions, such as the costs associated
with human casualties, material damages and discontinued supply chains.
“A lot of information exists about the effects of weather events, but this is the first project which
intends to estimate their cost effects methodically,” says EWENT Coordinator Pekka
Leviäkangas from VTT.
The main purpose of the project is to support adaptation to climate change. As well as to the
authorities, the project’s results may be useful to businesses, project financers and insurers.
The results can be leveraged in various ways, such as by creating infrastructure sizing criteria,
pointing out needs for enhanced maintenance capabilities, developing cooperation between
authorities and preparing for exceptional conditions. The pre-engineering of co-European and
national risk management methods and processes is one of the project’s key tasks.
The project will be carried out between 2010 and 2012. The total project budget is
approximately EUR 2 million.
For more information, please contact:
EIB: Technical Advisor Nancy Saich, Tel. +352 4379 8 2688, n.saich@eib.org
VTT:

Chief Research Scientist Pekka Leviäkangas, Tel. + 358 20 722 2058,
pekka.leviakangas@vtt.fi

Senior Research Scientist Anu Tuominen, Tel. +358 20 722 4976, anu.tuominen@vtt.fi

Research Scientist Riitta Molarus, Tel. +358 20 722 3480, riitta.molarius@vtt.fi
Press contact:
Ms Helen Kavvadia, Senior Communications Officer,
Tel.: +30 210 6824517, e-mail: kavvadia@eib.org, EIB website: http://www.eib.org