Australia’s climate is changing. To help adapt to future changes, guidance on how to consider climate change in assessing and managing flood risk has been updated.
The Climate Change Considerations chapter of the Australian Rainfall and Runoff: A Guide to Flood Estimation (ARR) has been updated. This guide is one of the most widely used references to assess flood risk for the built environment.
The chapter was updated in partnership with Engineers Australia. The update incorporates the latest peer-reviewed climate change science.
Key changes to the chapter include:
- Guidance on how to adjust historical rainfall data to reflect future climate change.
- A move from uniform to variable rainfall adjustments. This reflects evidence that the duration of a storm matters for estimating how temperature affects rainfall.
- Worked examples to help apply the advice.
The update was informed by public consultation and stakeholder input on both an issues paper and a draft chapter.
The next step is helping users understand how this non-mandatory national guidance relates to regulations and other guidance. The Government is partnering with Engineers Australia to run workshops for:
- state and territory regulators
- local Government
- industry
- other relevant decision-makers.
These workshops will inform a possible update to the guidance in early 2025.
You can register your interest in the upcoming workshops at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The guidance is published by Engineers Australia. It is available through the ARR website, managed by Geoscience Australia on behalf of the Australian Government.
The update was funded via a grant from the National Emergency Management Authority Disaster Risk Reduction Package. It is expected that application of the guidance will improve the disaster resilience of Australia’s built environment.
