Why resilient infrastructure can no longer be optional
In my three decades of responding to catastrophic events around the world, I have often observed a curious human tendency to overlook the invisible foundations of our safety. We are meticulous about the visible – the aesthetic finish, convenience and efficiency of our cities – while neglecting the invisible resilience required to keep our societies functioning when disaster strikes.
Today, we no longer have the luxury of such oversight. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026 has rightly identified critical infrastructure as a primary and systemic risk, signalling that the way we design, build and manage our core systems must undergo a radical transformation.
The systemic risk of infrastructure failure
The scale of the challenge is staggering. While direct disaster costs have reached approximately USD 202 billion annually, our Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2025 reveals a far more alarming reality: the true cost is 11 times higher, reaching nearly USD 2.3 trillion annually, when cascading and indirect impacts are taken into account. In an interconnected world, a single failure in the power grid or a water system can trigger far-reaching ripple effects across entire economies.
Ensuring infrastructure resilience saves lives, safeguards development gains and reduces humanitarian needs. It is also a critical enabler for the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the Paris Climate Agreement and the New Urban Agenda.
To help countries better integrate disaster resilience into infrastructure, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) introduced the Principles for Resilient Infrastructure in 2023. These principles have now evolved into an important International Standard – ISO 22372 – that offers practical guidance for strengthening the resilience of infrastructure systems.
At UNDRR, our goal is to support countries in adopting higher-resilience standards and practices.
From principles to a shared global standard
This milestone represents more than a technical achievement. It marks the emergence of a shared global language for resilience, one that recognizes infrastructure as a “system of systems”. A hospital’s ability to function during a crisis, for example, depends not only on its buildings, but on the resilience of the microgrids powering its operations and the digital networks managing its data.
ISO 22372 also complements legislative frameworks such as the European Commission’s Resilience of Critical Entities (CER) Directive. While regulation defines the requirements, International Standards offer practical pathways for achieving resilience and ensuring the continuity of essential services under stress.
Countries can also apply tools such as resilient infrastructure stress tests to uncover hidden vulnerabilities, including how the cascading impacts of droughts, floods and wildfires can disrupt energy, water and transport systems.
At UNDRR, our goal is to support countries in adopting higher-resilience standards and practices so that hazards do not escalate into costly disasters. Failing to invest in resilient infrastructure in this era of climate change is perhaps the greatest risk of all.
By implementing this new ISO standard, investments can be guided to strengthen resilience where it matters most. Countries can then make a decisive break from “business as usual” and transform infrastructure systems from a liability in moments of crisis to a strategic asset – one that protects lives, sustains essential services and supports sustainable development in an increasingly uncertain world.
Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
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