“Faced with the acceleration of climate change, we draw a simple conclusion: the ecological transition of territories can no longer be considered ‘alongside’ infrastructure projects. It must be embedded at the heart of planning decisions, from the design stage, and translated into measurable actions in the field.”
Opinion piece by Carine Piquet, Health, Safety and Environment Director
At Colas, we design and implement tailor-made solutions that strengthen the urban climate resilience of cities and territories. Our starting point is always the same: assess current and future risks, then adapt our responses to local constraints (technical, economic, scheduling, regulatory and acceptability).
Our belief: resilience is built now, on the ground
In the countries where we operate, we observe more and more hazards every year: heatwaves, extreme rainfall, coastal erosion, pressure on water resources and weakened ecosystems. These phenomena directly affect the continuity of essential services: mobility, sanitation, user safety, attractiveness and quality of life, as well as overall urban resilience.
For local authorities, developers, public buyers and engineering consultancies, the question is no longer “should we act?”, but how to act quickly, effectively and sustainably, while keeping control of total cost and life cycle.
This is precisely our role: turning a climate challenge into operational solutions, deployable at the right scale, with high standards of quality, safety and efficiency for resilient infrastructure.
Our method: assess risks, prioritise, act
We work across the entire value chain of resilience, from design to delivery. To avoid “standard” responses that do not stand the test of time, we structure our approach in three stages:
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Assess vulnerability (hazards, exposure, sensitivity of assets and uses)
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Prioritise (criticality, feasibility, costs, co-benefits in terms of carbon/water/biodiversity/soil)
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Act with solutions tailored to the local context, and a realistic phasing
Responding to emergencies after an extreme event
The first priority in an emergency is to make sites safe, restore and repair after a disaster. It also means, where possible, preventing or limiting imminent damage.
We then mobilise our intervention capabilities, our construction methods and our safety culture to shorten the time needed to return to normal and secure critical assets.
👉 Cleanup operation following the Los Angeles wildfires: watch the film
Adapting infrastructure and public spaces for the long term
In the medium term, we work to reduce the structural vulnerability of cities and territories through climate change adaptation. This involves in particular:
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reducing the carbon footprint of infrastructure,
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decontaminating and regenerating sites,
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reducing urban heat islands,
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making stormwater management more robust and resource-efficient,
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preserving biodiversity,
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and taking soil into account (permeability, infiltration, functionality).
Our levers for more resilient territories
Reducing urban heat islands
We adapt public spaces to improve summer comfort: lighter-coloured surfacings, more permeable solutions, creation of shade, removal of unnecessary impermeable areas, and planting where it is relevant and sustainable in operation. The objective is twofold: mitigate overheating and make the city more liveable during heatwave episodes.
Better managing stormwater and extreme rainfall
Intense rainfall makes it necessary to rethink planning: slowing down water, storing it, infiltrating it where possible, and integrating these principles right from the design stage. We deploy solutions that combine urban hydraulics and spatial planning to limit runoff, reduce network overload and improve the resilience of neighbourhoods through effective stormwater management.
Protecting the coastline and limiting erosion
On the coast, we seek solutions that reduce wave energy, protect sensitive structures and fit within a territorial strategy. When the final solution has not yet been decided, we favour efficient, reversible responses that can address the risk without irreversibly “freezing” the coastline.
Preserving biodiversity and restoring ecosystems
We treat biodiversity as a key parameter of project durability: avoid–reduce–offset, ecosystem restoration, ecological corridors, and improved environmental functions (habitats, soils, water). Our ambition is to align user performance, resilience and environmental quality, contributing to biodiversity conservation.
Acting on soils: decontamination, permeability, functionality
Soils are a major, often underestimated lever. We work on decontamination, permeability and infiltration capacity, because these choices condition water management, the urban microclimate and the long-term robustness of developments, including soil remediation for sustainable urban development.
Co-designing adaptation pathways
For us, urban climate resilience is not just a narrative: it is an approach that must be based on data, modelling and feedback from experience. We have also made a structuring choice: training and engaging our teams, to turn our commitments into operational capability.
Climate resilience of territories is a long-term effort. It requires adapting infrastructure, acting on living environments, repairing degraded ecosystems and managing resources more effectively.
By acting across a broad spectrum — carbon, water, biodiversity, soils — we aim to be a useful partner for local authorities, developers and project owners: clear-eyed about risks, rigorous in our methods, pragmatic about solutions.
Are you working on a development project, infrastructure renovation or protection against climate hazards?
Let’s discuss your constraints (risks, schedule, budget, uses) to build a realistic, measurable adaptation pathway.
