Coastal cities around the world could learn some valuable lessons from the Dutch when it comes to reducing their flood risk.

In a new report on climate risk in private real estate portfolios, MSCI has said that the “Room for the Rivers” approach used by the Netherlands to control rising water levels has proved to be a highly effective defence mechanism against flood risk. The plan has allowed rivers to expand when flood waters enter the country, created parkland with emergency reservoirs to capture water from severe rainfall and resulted in multi-level flood defenses that allow for primary dyke failures.

The billion-euro initiative, started in 2006, involves 40 different infrastructure projects and is thought to only have a 1 in 10,000 chance of failure.

As part of its research, the data provider has looked at the 3,800 prop