How can organizations and the public sector manage and mitigate flood risk to the urban environment? A session on Wednesday December 6 hosted by KPMG will explore the topic, using a pilot demonstration to illustrate the value of digital twins in future-proofing infrastructure around the world.

The session entitled ‘Empowering cities with digital twins: advancing policies, investments, and a just transition via a whole systems approach’, will comprise a practical demonstration of flood risk for the US city of Ithaca, both at present day and exploring what risk would look like under different emission scenarios in future years. By integrating multiple datasets into the platform, the demo will highlight how a digital twin can support policy decisions, show the value of investments, and be used to monitor progress. Aligning with two of the UAE’s top themes for COP28, technology and innovation, the session will focus on how local governments and urban planners can identify actionable change.

The flood risk data for Ithaca will be provided by water risk intelligence firm Fathom, pulled from its new US Flood Map; the most complete and technologically advanced flood map for the US in existence.

A similar prototype for the UK, the Climate Resilience Demonstrator (CReDo), aims to highlight the interconnectivity between critical national infrastructure, and is likewise built upon Fathom’s rainfall, river and coastal flooding data and scientific expertise. Recently, the project was named a finalist in the Verdantix Climate Innovation Awards EMEA 2023.

The KPMG session will be held in the UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub, Blue Zone Pavilion at 5pm-7pm GTS.

The demonstration is not Fathom’s first time at COP. The firm’s data was used during a COP27 talk on helping vulnerable coastal countries to tackle the challenges of climate change, and one of the company’s co-founders, Dr Jeffrey Neal, joined a panel at COP26 as part of the Global Resilience Index Initiative launch.