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More than 200 billion Australian dollars (181 billion U.S. dollars) of Australian infrastructure is under threat by sea-level rises over the next century, a new report released on Wednesday has found.
The Climate Council report showed that sea levels were likely to rise by between 40 centimeters and one meter over the next century, and most of Australia's major cities and associated infrastructure, such as road, rail port facilities, and airports are based in coastal areas.
"We now have more reliable and accurate information on the observed rates of sea-level rise, as well as a better understanding of regional variations around the Australian coast," the report said.
"We can assess the relative importance of various factors, such as the warming of ocean water and the loss of ice from the polar ice sheets, in driving sea-level rise."
The report said infrastructure Australian government authorities are designing and building now should take climate change into account, "but this is often not the case."
The Victorian coast, the south-east corner of Queensland and Sydney would be the hardest hit by rising sea levels, the report found.
If sea-level rises were ignored, by 2050, the report predicted that the global impact of coastal flooding would cost 1 trillion U. S. dollars per year, the same size as the Australian economy.
