BOSTON, MA, July 4, 2022 — ClimaTwin™, Climate Risk Analysis for Infrastructure Digital Twins™, is proud to participate in the International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI) Summit on June 28, 2002, organized by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). The virtual summit centers around “…ways to drive the transformative change needed to deliver people-centered, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure that is fit for all our communities and the Earth.”
Recent reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlight that the timeframe for addressing climate change is now, and mission critical over the next eight years. IPCC is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations responsible for advancing knowledge on human-induced climate change. As the frequency and severity of extreme weather increases as a result of climate change, engineering sustainable and resilient infrastructure is imperative.
During the International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure Summit, global experts, such as Richard Threlfall, Chair of the ICSI, and Ellen Lindsey Awuku, Vice President of International Falcon Movement-Socialist Education International, discuss a broad spectrum of topics — innovative finance, climate resilience and adaptation, and new guidance and standards for sustainable and resilient infrastructure. Further, ICSI presents plans and priorities to act on climate change, sustainability, and resilience.
ICSI Summit Program
Opening address: The accountability of the infrastructure sector for our future
Keynote address: The role and expectations of future generations
This year’s ICE State of the Nation report calls on civil engineers to own their responsibility to reduce infrastructure’s carbon footprint and use their influence to bring about real change.
ICE’s State of the Nation 2021 outlines the six key actions that all civil engineers can take to tackle the climate crisis.
By Mark Hansford
In one month, world leaders will gather in Glasgow for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). We anticipate bold new targets and agreements to act on climate change, including faster moves towards net zero carbon in tandem with efforts to improve our collective resilience to the impacts of a global changing climate.
The UK Government, as host, is determined to show global leadership through its own commitments. Yet, as ICE President Rachel Skinner points out in her foreword to ICE’s latest State of the Nation report, the UK’s current rate of progress towards net zero is too slow and efforts to build climate resilience into our existing places and infrastructure systems are far from mature.
Infrastructure is responsible for more than half of the UK’s carbon emissions. As civil engineers, we have a long-established responsibility for infrastructure. We must, therefore, step up and seize the opportunity to use our skills and influence to bring about transformational change, at speed.
This report assesses the current state of the nation in terms of its infrastructure carbon footprint and associated trajectory. Through regional roundtables ICE has assessed its members’ state of readiness to take climate action.
We have devised a headline checklist of six key actions that all civil engineers and infrastructure experts can take to significantly increase the pace of change:
This is an emergency – treat it like one
Bring carbon into every conversation
Understand and influence end users
Design and build for the “right” outcomes
Strive for creative solutions
Be responsible for resilience
At the heart of these six actions is a clear need for us to change our behaviors and recognize our ability to influence others to do the same, unlocking new creativity and solutions by putting a climate and carbon “lens” on all that we do.
