Zhiqiang Yin

Climate change economics; Climate change risk assessment; Climate change adaptation; Numerical modelling

School research theme: Sustainability in the built environment
Research supervisor: Professor Dabo Guan and Dr Jing Meng
Start date: September 2020

Floods are among the most frequent and costliest natural hazards. The economic losses from floods are expected to increase in the future, driven by population and economic growth in flood-prone areas, and exacerbated in many regions by effects of climate change on the hydrological cycle. Yet, studies assessing the total (including direct and indirect) economic impacts of river flooding in combination with climate change and socio-economic projections at a global level are rare.

I will develop an integrated modelling framework to assess the total economic impacts of global river flooding under different scenarios of climate change and socio-economic development. The modelling framework will combine global climate models (GCMs), a global hydrological model, a global hydraulic model (aka flood model) and an economic model. A comprehensive assessment of the economic risks of future global river flooding under climate change and socio-economic growth is critically important as such an assessment not only quantifies flood losses, but also informs flood risk reduction and management, and supports decision-making on climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.