The impact of climate change on ambient temperature and relative humidity along with the present CO2 levels are speeding the corrosion process of reinforced concrete structures. The alarming cost of the associated reduction of the service life of structures, which is estimated to cost 3% to 4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of industrialized countries, has put the spotlight on the importance of introducing the issue of climate change on the new generation of Eurocodes. Amongst the strategies to tackle the problem, design-phase measures seem not to be always cost- effective, nevertheless, measures during service-life are generally the most expensive. This paper discusses the potential strategies to be addressed by structural codes to tackle the problem of climate change-induced corrosion, considering aspects such as the cost-benefit analysis, viability, and the large uncertainty involved in climate change evolution.

One major issue when considering the effects of climate change is to understand, qualify and quantify how natural hazards and the changing climate will likely impact infrastructure assets and services as it strongly depends on current and future climate variability, location, asset design life, function and condition. So far, there is no well-defined and agreed performance indicator that isolates the effects of climate change for structures. Rather, one can mention some key considerations on how climate change may produce changes of vulnerability due to physical and chemical actions affecting structural durability or changes of the exposure in terms of intensity/frequency of extreme events. This paper considers these two aspects and associated challenges, considering some recent activities of members of the IABSE TG6.1.