Lena I. Fuldauer

Climate-resilient system transitions to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals

Achieving sustainable development while tackling climate change are two of the greatest global challenges for the 21st century. As a response to these challenges, the international community has pledged to act towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change. The built and natural environment can play a large role in delivering on these pledges by providing essential services such as low-carbon energy, healthcare or flood protection services.

This research project is aimed at co-developing transferable system methodology to help decision-makers adapt to climate change impacts whilst delivering on the SDGs. The project is being implemented together with the United Nations, the Government of St. Lucia, the Government of Ghana, and the Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium and is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

You can read an overview of Lena's research to date on the St Edmund Hall website.

Overall outputs

• Three paper publications in target journals including Nature Climate Change and Global Environmental Change.
• Presentation at national and intergovernmental level with focus on linking the Sustainable Development and climate adaptation agenda under the Paris Agreement.
• Insights from model application strengthen understanding of systems dynamics and assists policy-makers to:
  1. Inform prioritisation of adaptation investments for sustainable development outcomes.
  2. Facilitate development of effective linkages between climate change issues and development planning by improving social resilience.
  3. Contribute to sustainable development through co-developing and engaging stakeholders in the process of planning.

Journal Articles

• Fuldauer, L., Thacker, S. and Hall, J.W. (2022) Informing national adaptation for sustainable development through spatial systems modelling. Global Environmental Change, 71(102396).
• Fuldauer, L.I., Thacker, S., Haggis, R.A., Fuso-Nerini, F., Nicholls, R.J., Hall, J.W. (2022) Targeting climate adaptation to safeguard and advance the Sustainable Development Goals. Nature Communications, 13.
• Adshead, D., Thacker, S., Fuldauer, L.I. and Hall, J.W. (2019) Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals through long-term infrastructure planning. Global Environmental Change, 59.
• Fuldauer, L.I., Ives, M.C., Adshead, D., Thacker, S. and Hall, J.W. (2019) Participatory planning of the future of waste management in small island developing states to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals. Journal of Cleaner Production, 223: 147-162.
• Fuldauer, L.I., Parker, B. and Borrion, A. (2018) ‘Managing anaerobic digestate from food waste in the urban environment: evaluating the options from an interdisciplinary perspective’. Journal of Cleaner Production, 185: 929-940.
• Paltan., H., Allen, M., Haustein, K., Fuldauer, L. and Dadson, S. (2018) Global implications of 1.5 °C and 2 °C warmer worlds on extreme river flows. Environmental Research Letters.

Book Chapters

• Fuldauer, L.I. (2019) Power for change in adapting to coastal flood risk on Curacao in the Caribbean. Chapter 4 in, Penning-Rowsell, E.C. and Becker, M. (eds.) Flood Risk Management. Global Case Studies of Governance, Policy and Communities. Routledge, London.

Reports

• Adshead, D., Thacker, S., Fuldauer, L.I., Gall, S.S., Chow, N., Pant, R., Russell, T., Bajpai, A., Morgan, G., Bhikhoo, N., Boroto, D., Palmer, R., Cançado, D., Jain, N., Klöttschen, V., Lawal, H., Dery, P., Twum, E., Mohammed, G., Hall, J.W. and Agbesi, L. (2022) Ghana: Roadmap for resilient infrastructure in a changing climate. Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Accra, Ghana.
• Adshead, D., Fuldauer, L.I., Thacker, S., Román García, O., Vital, S., Felix, F., Roberts, C., Wells, H., Edwin, G., Providence, A. and Hall, J.W. (2020) Saint Lucia: National Infrastructure Assessment. United Nations Office for Project Services, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Fuldauer, L.I. (2020) A model approach to waste. ICE. UN75 Sustainable Engineering in Action. ICE, London.. 176-177.
• Adshead, D., Fuldauer, L., Thacker, S., Hickford, A., Rouhet, G., Muller, W.S., Hall, J.W. and Nicholls, R. (2018) Evidence-based infrastructure: Curacao. National infrastructure systems modelling to support sustainable and resilient infrastructure development. United Nations Office for Project Services, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Award

• Fuldauer, L.I. (2020) Chapter 1: Spatially asseessing hazard impacts. In: Allianz. A glimpse of tomorrow how the consequences of climate change are already evident and how they can be tackled. Munich, Allianz, p.10-11. Available online.