How should engineers think about their duty to design safe structures? For IStructE’s head of climate action Will Arnold, this duty extends beyond the structure, to the safety of everyone on the planet. With renewable energy cutting operational carbon emissions, the majority of the engineering sector’s impact on climate change now comes from embodied carbon.

Today, the World Health Organisation estimates that 150,000 excess deaths each year are caused by climate change. Embodied carbon from construction accounts for 10% of climate changing emissions. Around 15,000 deaths each year could be attributed to poor design that does not consider these costs.

In this episode, we learn how engineers have extended the lifespan of structures around the world, minimising or entirely avoiding new impacts on the planet. As UCL’s Katherine Cashell explains, structural engineers now have a wealth of techniques and technologies that they can use to renew, retrofit, and preserve existing structures. With these tools in hand, they can meet client and public demands, while cutting financial and carbon costs.

Resources

PAS 2080: Carbon Management in Infrastructure and Built Environment

The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard

Part Z – A proposed amendment to the UK building regulations

IStructE Climate Action Report 2024

Guests

Will Arnold, head of climate action, IStructE

Prof. Katherine Cashell, Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering (CEGE), University College London

Mike Davies, co-founder/director, SD Engineers

Balduino Del Principe, associate, Arup