Every year, Engineers Australia's Climate Smart Engineering Conference brings together some of the profession's most influential thought leaders and stakeholders. The primary focus remains navigating the crucial challenge of decarbonisation of the economy to combat climate change.
Last week I had the privilege of participating at CSE24 , alongside fellow Arcadis colleagues and a diverse selection of industry experts. Here are the key takeaways that stood out to me from the conference:
1. Momentum in engineering
The consensus at the conference was clear - the engineering community stands prepared and united to confront the challenges posed by climate change. There has never been this much momentum to help address the climate challenge. The key focus is on decarbonisation – with a key gap being the role of engineers in how we can adapt to a climate changed world.
2. Importance of Collaboration
Arcadis Mobility Global President Greg Steele highlighted the imperative of collaborative strategies spanning cross countries, industries, and public-private spheres was underscored as pivotal in facilitating a successful transition. As Peter Halliday from Siemens reiterated: Australia can and should punch above its weight in the decarbonisation challenge. Siloed approaches fail to recognise the significant learning opportunities from across industries.
3. Harnessing Digital Solutions and AI
There was a key focus on the significant potential held by digital solutions and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in fuelling the transition towards a cleaner future. However, a cautious approach was emphasised regarding the responsible and ethical utilisation of these powerful tools. Data security, especially when considering the sensitivity of large-scale databases such as transport and energy, is key.
4. Overcoming Technical and Political Hurdles
Although many technical hurdles still exist on the path to decarbonisation of our economy, viable solutions are readily available for large-scale deployment. The primary obstacles identified were political in nature - stemming from inadequate market demand and an unlevel playing field, where low-carbon alternatives struggle against heavily subsidised traditional industries.
5. Funding is a real issue
Addressing the funding gap will require government initiatives to attract private investment, thereby supporting the transition to sustainable practices. Economic signals and large-scale project commitments to low carbon alternatives will sure up the market for innovative solutions.
Arcadis Roundtable: Barriers and opportunities for truly climate smart engineering
As a key sponsor of CSE24, Arcadis facilitated a roundtable session focussing on knocking down the barriers to decarbonised, more resilient engineering approaches. Our multi-disciplinary discussions highlighted key challenges as:
- The lack of accounting of benefits associated with climate-smart solutions, which can offer diverse advantages beyond solely low-carbon attributes. Think biodiversity, resilience and aesthetic benefits of low-carbon and nature based solutions.
- The uncertainty and perceived risk of innovative approaches and resistance from traditional tried and tested methods that stifle change.
- The rigidity of existing standards systems, which pose significant challenges in implementing climate-smart solutions.
- A limited availability of necessary skills and tools for execution.
In response to these barriers, our session undertook a simple brainstorming method to identify potential solutions. These included:
- Increased advocacy for true Triple Bottom Line accounting to thoroughly evaluate the benefits of low-carbon solutions, potentially tipping the scales in favour of sustainable business decisions. This should include a cost on carbon.
- Encouraging client demand for more innovative and climate-smart strategies to foster a culture of innovation. If it's not in a contract or defined in a standard – it probably won’t happen!
- Establishing stronger industry and university/ research council partnerships which are adequately funded to drive impactful innovation initiatives as a testing lab for innovative solutions.
Engineers Australia's CSE24 exemplified a shared commitment to advancing climate smart engineering practices and highlighted the collaborative efforts required to overcome the challenges ahead in the clean energy transition journey. Next year, I would like to see a bigger focus on the monumental adaptation challenge and more robust panel discussions that tease out the issues and move the needle.
