PLASK – a new climate adaptation tool

The new climate adaptation tool, PLASK (Splash) calculates whether flood prevention really does pay off. PLASK stands for Project on Local Analysis of the Social-Economics of Climate Adaptation.

The tool works by the municipality or waste treatment company entering information about previous damages after a cloudburst, as well as information on the full range of options to prevent damage by flooding. The tool consequently calculates what the different solutions would cost in the short and long term – allowing the municipality to choose the solution that pays off the best. The tool also recognises side benefits such as the value of nature and storage of CO2.

The 98 Danish municipalities have made climate adaptation plans, which they now have to put into practice. Learn more about the tool (only in Danish).

New White Paper on Climate Adaptation

In November 2015 the Danish Innovation Network “Water in Urban Areas” and State of Green launched a white paper on climate adaptation. The white paper presents the various possibilities of using rainwater as a resource as opposed to considering it as something that simply needs to be hidden in sewers. The aim of using rainwater as a resource is partly to reduce the risk of flooding by optimising the rainwater management and partly to contribute to creating more green and liveable cities. Download the full white paper.

The four cases in this newsletter focus on protection of central parts of the City of Copenhagen as the seat of the national government and the City of Århus by establishment of a sluice at the mouth of the city’s river, the first climate-adapted urban space in Copenhagen (climate neighbourhood), which retain rainwater and provides relief for sewers during cloudbursts and finally establishment of a new wetland which serves as a retention buffer by restoration of a watercourse at the island of Funen.

Case 1: Sluice system at Aarhus River reduces the risk of flooding

Case 2: Slotsholmen in Copenhagen is now well protected from the next cloudburst

Case 3: Green rainwater solution creates a new beautiful urban space in Copenhagen

Case 4: Stream restoration in Haarby reduces the risk of flooding