21 April 2026 to 30 April 2026
Total duration: 12 hours (4 x 3-hour classes)
Climate change is fundamentally reshaping the way road assets are planned, designed, maintained and financed. Rising temperatures, extreme precipitation, flooding, freeze–thaw cycles and geotechnical instability increasingly threaten pavement performance, serviceability and lifecycle costs. At the same time, road projects are under growing pressure to demonstrate carbon efficiency and alignment with international climate commitments.
This advanced course equips road engineers and infrastructure professionals with practical methodologies and decision frameworks to design, maintain and rehabilitate roads that are both climate-resilient and low-carbon, while meeting the expectations of public authorities and international financiers.
Learning Outcomes
Drawing on global case studies and internationally recognised practices, participants will learn how to:
- Assess climate vulnerability at asset and network level
- Select and prioritise adaptation measures
- Quantify carbon emissions across the road life cycle
- Integrate resilience and mitigation into project design and maintenance strategies
- Prepare road projects for climate finance and Paris Agreement alignment
Target Audience
The course is designed for a
- Road and pavement engineers
- Asset managers and maintenance planners
- Transport infrastructure designers and consultants
- Public road authorities and implementing agencies
- Multilateral development bank (MDB) project teams
- Engineering firms involved in climate-sensitive regions
Prerequisites:
This course forms part of IRF’s Applied Curriculum. Participants are expected to have a basic understanding of road engineering principles and infrastructure project lifecycles.
Programme Structure
Date: Tuesday, 21 April 2026, 14:00-17:15 CEST
Understanding climate stressors and infrastructure risk
Key topics:
- Climate change as a road engineering and asset management challenge
- Overview of pavement and asset stressors:
- Heat and thermal loading
- Moisture, flooding and drainage failure
- Freeze–thaw cycles
- Landslides, erosion and subgrade instability
- Acute climate shocks versus chronic climate stress
- Climate data and scenario analysis
- Climate screening methodologies for road projects
- Infrastructure vulnerability analysis: exposure, sensitivity and consequences
From vulnerability assessment to engineering action
Key topics:
- Typology of adaptation measures:
- Structural versus non-structural
- Design-phase versus operation-phase measures
- Avoiding maladaptation in road projects
- Matching adaptation measures to identified vulnerabilities
- Prioritisation frameworks and cost-effectiveness screening
- Resilient pavement design principles:
- Heat-resilient materials
- Drainage-oriented design
- Subgrade stabilisation
- Nature-based solutions and hybrid approaches
- Integration of adaptation into maintenance and rehabilitation strategies
Managing mitigation alongside resilience
Key topics:
- Introduction to carbon accounting for road infrastructure
- Embodied versus operational emissions in road projects
- Life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology:
- Construction phase emissions
- Traffic and operational emissions
- Maintenance and rehabilitation impacts
- Identifying carbon hotspots in road projects
- Carbon reduction strategies:
- Avoid / Reduce / Compensate logic
- Circular economy principles in pavement design
- Low-carbon materials and construction technique
- Managing trade-offs between carbon reduction and resilience
From sound engineering to bankable projects
Key topics:
- Paris Agreement Alignment (PAA) for transport infrastructure
- Mitigation and adaptation alignment requirements
- Climate finance expectations for road projects
- Common gaps and red flags in project preparation
- Documentation and evidence required by financiers
- Integrating climate risk, adaptation and carbon into project narratives
- Capstone case study:
- Climate risk screening
- Adaptation prioritisation
- Carbon assessment
- Paris alignment positioning
Instructors
Florian Ott
Head of Offering Department, ORIS Materials Intelligence
Florian specialises in digital innovation for sustainable infrastructure and currently leads the development of solutions that integrate climate resilience and carbon efficiency into road design. With over seven years of experience in strategy consulting, including a significant tenure at IBM, Florian has a proven track record of steering complex digital transformation projects across the industrial and energy sectors.
At ORIS, his mission is to unlock the sustainability potential of the linear infrastructure sector, which faces two important transitions: digital transformation and E&S impact management. Florian bridges the gap between high-level climate commitments, such as the Paris Agreement and practical, data-driven engineering decisions.
By combining his expertise in managing digital value creation with a deep understanding of the infrastructure sector, Florian demonstrates how digital platforms can transform road construction and maintenance from a reactive process into a proactive, climate-resilient strategy.
Danilo Ebbinghaus Carrari
Climate Resilience Technical Lead, ORIS Materials Intelligence
Danilo is a leading expert in geospatial analytics and climate resilience, specialising in the technical execution of Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessments (CRVA). With over six years of experience in climate modelling and infrastructure resilience, Danilo oversees the development of high-precision indicators for transport assets, including flash floods, landslides and long-term fluvial changes.
At ORIS, Danilo leads the architecture of advanced data pipelines that translate complex climate projections into actionable adaptation strategies. His global portfolio includes delivering comprehensive resilience assessments for infrastructure projects in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Ivory Coast and across Europe.
Notably, his work bridges the gap between raw data and engineering, transforming geo-referenced risk identification into specific “grey,” “blue” or Nature-based Solution (NbS) adaptation measures.
Danilo holds a Master’s in Materials Science for Sustainable Construction and a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from the École des Ponts et Chaussées (ENPC) in Paris, as well as a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from the University of São Paulo. His deep technical proficiency in geospatial modeling and IPCC scenario analysis makes him a key trainer for the identification of flood-prone areas and the prioritisation of resilient road investments.
Léa Fischer
Project Manager LCA, ORIS Materials Intelligence
Léa is an LCA Project Manager at ORIS Materials Intelligence. She holds a dual background as both a Materials Engineer and a Master’s graduate in Innovation and Sustainable Development. After an initial career phase in the R&D of innovative and sustainable materials, Léa shifted her focus to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Today, she leads LCA initiatives at ORIS, specifically overseeing databases, calculation methodologies and product development aimed at streamlining environmental assessments for infrastructure projects.
ORIS Materials Intelligence is a mission-driven company based in Lyon. Its objective is to empower the construction sector to design sustainable infrastructure by leveraging local resources and environmental and social data through integrated digital solutions.
Hugo Pley-Leclercq
Project Director, ORIS Materials Intelligence
Hugo Pley-Leclercq is a resilience engineering and climate change adaptation expert with 13 years of experience in sustainable infrastructure development. As a Project Director at ORIS, he specialises in integrating climate risk assessments, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions modelling and life-cycle analysis (LCA) into large-scale transport projects.
Hugo has a proven track record of delivering technical excellence for major international financial institutions, notably serving as an International Climate Expert for the Asian Development Bank (ADB). His work has been instrumental in modernizing road networks and enhancing infrastructure resilience across diverse and challenging environments, including Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Nepal, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda and France.
A specialist in digital decision-making tools, Hugo leverages the ORIS platform to provide data-driven insights into material flow optimisation and circular economy principles. His expertise bridges the gap between complex climate science and practical engineering solutions, ensuring that road designs are not only durable but also aligned with global resilience and sustainable targets in order to align infrastructures projects with Paris Accords. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering and is a frequent contributor to capacity-building initiatives for infrastructure professionals worldwide.
Enrolment Fees
- Individual Registrations: 1100 CHF
- Group Registration (min. 3): 850 CHF
- IRF Members: 850 CHF
Enquiries: training@irfofficial.org
Why Attend an IRF Training Programme?
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