PLASK - a dialogue and calculation tool in climate-change adaptation
PLASK (SPLASH) is a free, Excel-based tool that the Danish EPA is making available to everyone who may benefit from calculating the socio-economic benefits of climate-change adaptation solutions. The tool is targeted at utility companies and municipalities that develop solutions together. These solutions are often cheaper and result in more benefits than traditional, pipe-based projects. Development of these alternative solutions requires close collaboration, and PLASK has therefore also been developed with the goal of promoting dialogue and knowledge-sharing.
Comparing projects on three parameters
PLASK makes it possible to compare up to three different climate-change adaptation solutions designed to address the same flood risk. The solutions are compared on three parameters:
- 1. Socio-economic benefits - Does it pay to adapt to climate change?
PLASK makes it possible to compare the costs of adapting to climate change associated with a specific initiative with the socio-economic benefits in the form of lower damage costs.
- 2. Costs allocation - Who should pay?
PLASK makes it possible to describe the costs allocation between the parties involved, for example the utility company, the municipality and private contractors.
- 3. What added value does the project provide?
PLASK can be used to assess the expected change in the derived added value on 16 parameters and thus assess a project's ability to promote, for example, health, biodiversity, urban life and carbon reduction.
A tool for dialogue and decision-making processes
Climate-change adaptation projects in which rainwater management is coupled with other functions often rely on collaboration across sectors and specialist fields. Therefore, PLASK supports cross-disciplinary dialogue between the municipality and the utility company, and internally in the individual municipality. Knowledge-sharing and more dialogue are therefore a key outcome of working with PLASK.
The specific output from PLASK is a spread sheet of results which compares the three selected solutions on the three parameters specified above. The spread sheet is intended to be included directly in the decision-making processes at administrative as well as political levels.