Project

EFLIP (Economic impacts of Flood risk in Lombardy and Innovative risk mitigation Policy) project, led by CMCC with the participation of CIMA Foundation and IUSS, aims at better appreciating the financial and economic risks posed by flood hazard in Lombardy by analysing micro- and macro-economic consequences of flood events. Because of Lombardy’s critical role for Italian economy, the project will assess how the amplifying flood risk within the region may threaten economic growth and cohesion in Italy.

In order to achieve all the mentioned objectives, the project will:

Analyse and fill in the gaps in the past records of damage and losses caused by floods in Lombardy and contribute building an open-access, regional flood hazard, vulnerability and risk database. The database will enable supplementary climate (adaptation) services that are essential for catalysing economic and societal transformations by reducing risk and unlocking innovation and employment opportunities.

Enhance understanding of how flood risk will be amplified as a result of environmental (including climate) change. By linking to economic and population growth scenarios in the hazard prone areas, EFLIP will perform targeted numerical simulations that demonstrate the effects of climate change and land conversion on flood hazard, and estimate the changing flood risk level in Lombardy.

Analyse the direct and indirect economic impacts of floods on the regional and national economy and cohesion, and perform economic micro- and macro-economic assessments to inform regional disaster risk and climate adaptation strategies and plans.

Develop and validate innovative financial frameworks and incentives for flood risk protection, and recommend appropriate changes to legal, policy and/or regulatory frameworks. EFLIP will explore options for individual and collective flood risk mitigation and financing, including insurance coverage and nature-based solution. The project intends to scope follow-up policy and insurance model trials, in collaboration with insurers and financial institutions, either as stand-alone industry-driven projects, or as embedded in more comprehensive LIFE or territorial cooperation projects.

The research will engage a wide range of stakeholders from research and academia, water management institutions, regional/local institutions involved in disaster risk management, and will set up an External Advisory Board composed by distinguished national and international flood risk management experts.

EFLIP will contribute to ongoing policy analysis and assessments, including the regional climate adaptation plan, the regional strategy for disaster risk reduction and the regional strategy for sustainable development, by using an integrated modelling framework that combines climate, hydrological and hydraulic models.