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FIDIC Developing Tools for Sustainability

Introduction

Iksan van der Putte
Sustainable Development Task Force

Increasing population and prosperity levels world-wide have also increased the demand for many consumer items and for energy. Numerous studies indicate that this growth can only continue on a long-term basis if we achieve a factor 20 improvement in the use of resources, space and the environment during the next 50 years. However, progress to date leads to the conclusion that the gap between what has been done so far and what is realistically needed is widening. Increased efforts and new initiatives are required. There are many ways consulting engineers can contribute. Apart from influencing decision-makers, they can educate and train others as well as directly solving problems themselves.

Ongoing FIDIC actions

Since 1990, with the introduction of its Policy Statement, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) has continued to encourage and devote resources to sustainable development through a series of ongoing programmes and publications.

• In 1994, FIDIC developed a consulting engineers’ Guide for Actions, recommending policies and principles to put into practice.
   
• In 1995, a guidance document identified ways to improve technology transfer.
   
• The Environmental Management System (EMS) Training Resource Kit was developed in 1995 in co-operation with UNEP and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Implementing an environmental management system is now widely recognised as an effective way to address environmental issues. More and more industries, governments and other organisations have become aware that thinking conceptually and formulating an environmental policy are important steps towards sustainable business practice.

The environmental management system presented in the Training Resource Kit was largely inspired by the final draft of ISO 14001 and by EMAS (the European Environmental Management and Audit Scheme). The kit has proven to be a valuable tool. It has been translated into over twelve languages, and thousands of copies have been sold. Many organisations have used it to implement systematic environmental management. The great success of the Training Resource Kit and of EMS uptake in general have encouraged UNEP, ICC and FIDIC to pursue the development of additional practical tools to assist companies in improving their environmental performance, such as:

• the Guide to ISO 14001 Certification/Registration.
   
• the EMS Handbook, a company guide for practical EMS implementation.

FIDIC will continue to support the introduction of voluntary instruments, including environmental management systems and tools. In-house training on EMS, with its various aspects, is an ongoing activity. Another continuing activity is the integration of environmental considerations into FIDIC documents, including contracting guidelines for various types of building and engineering projects.

New FIDIC initiative

The 6th sessions of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) reaffirmed that industrial policy and responsible entrepreneurship are vital to sustainable development strategies and should encompass a variety of interrelated social, economic and environmental objectives. There is a trend to give socio-economic issues more attention, in order to keep these in balance with green and technological issues. FIDIC has acknowledged this trend and has initiated actions in this direction.

The FIDIC Sustainable Development Task Group, which has both environmental engineering and socio-economic input, has elaborated the Strategy Paper and Business Guidelines for Sustainable Development. The Strategy Paper was presented in the FIDIC conference in Hawaii (2000). The Business Guidelines will be presented in the present FIDIC Conference in Montreux, Switzerland (2001).

Meanwhile in line with the earlier developed UNEP/ICC/FIDIC EMS Training Resource Kit campaign, a new tool has been developed for cities. The latter product is entitled Urban Environmental Management: Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Training Resource Kit. This kit was developed by UNEP, FIDIC and the International Council for Local Environmental Institutions (ICLEI). The strategy paper, business guidelines and training materials should provide further guidance and assistance for consulting engineers and their clients in activities aimed at sustainable development.

Business Guidelines for Sustainable Development

Stakeholder Relations and Partnerships

Iksan van der Putte
Sustainable Development Task Force

Sustainable development appears to be an attractive, emerging market driver that deserves considerable attention by consulting engineers. A growing number of clients are making public commitments to make their operations, products, services sustainable. They are changing the way they do business. This change is creating project opportunities which have sustainability as one, or even a primary, objective, as well as creating new requirements for sustainability capabilities on existing projects. Business opportunities are being created in planning/envisioning, design, construction, training, metrics development, reporting, green buildings, and other markets. Sustainable development has the potential to be a major contributor to our growth and financial success in the near future.

Within these developments, consulting engineers will have to play their specific role. This may vary from individual consultants, who advise decision makers on informed choices, to engineering companies, who help their clients in implementing the new systems based on the sustainable development concept.

The role of consulting engineers is particularly important, since they can:

• help interest groups including the clients to choose sound solutions within the environmental and socio-economical context;
• apply established principles and methodologies aimed at sustainable development;
• acquire and disseminate information on methodologies, to assist in the promotion of sustainable development;
• educate and train the various stakeholders.

FIDIC goals

The FIDIC strategy on sustainable development focuses on two main issues: "Professional Policy" comprising professional attitudes, public relations and co-operation, and "Services" comprising the services delivered by FIDIC members. Both parts - Professional Policy and Services - encompass the environmental, economic and social dimensions - the three dimensions of sustainability.

The objective of the present Business Guidelines for sustainable development is to provide guidance and advice in implementing the defined "Professional Policy" and "Services" objectives into the practice of the Consulting Engineering profession. It concentrates on four main themes which are of practical relevance:

• Stakeholder relations and partnerships
  Integrating sustainable development as a basic concept in the services supplied by consulting engineering firms involves not only relations with clients. Sustainable development will also influence the relationship with the general public — including local communities and governments — investors, suppliers, and the firm’s employees.
   
• Credibility, transparency and accountability
  Voluntary codes of conduct, guidelines for business practice, reporting on achievements towards sustainable development, and development of performance indicators are some of the tasks which lie ahead.
   
• Sustainable business environment
  Maximum benefits from the practice of sustainable development will require more than just an internal reorientation. Changes outside the control of the individual engineer or firm will also be necessary. The engineering education system must evolve to supply firms with practitioners who are trained and sensitised to sustainable development principles, and can communicate these principles broadly.
   
• Sustainable business practice
  In practice the three dimensions of sustainability, i.e. environmental, sociological and economical, cannot be dealt with separately. The inter -linkages should be made more explicit for this purpose. In addition practical guidelines in the form of checklists are required as an initial sustainability screening of projects and programmes.

The guidelines address each of these themes on two levels, namely: background information and guiding principles. Specific information and tools are given in an annex and include:

• Stakeholder Analysis,
• Sustainability Reporting ,
• Sustainability Checklist,
• International Agreements,
• Facets of Social Analysis.

The challenge for the profession is to use the guidelines to align with emerging trends. Poverty alleviation, private- public partnership, private financing initiative (PFI), Design, build, finance, operate (DBFO) projects, good governance , trading regulations and technology transfer are all subjects and developments which are of importance in the present day to day business in which sustainability should be a core element. Finally to provide leadership, the engineering community must take on their specific tasks reflecting their unique position.

Voluntary Reporting Credibility, Transparency, Accountability

Barbara Gamper,
SKS Ingenieure AG, Consulting EngineersZurich, Switzerland

Voluntary Instruments
Guiding Principles I
Guiding PrinciplesII
Reporting Issues
Guiding Principles III

Voluntary Instruments

• Code of Conducts
• Policy Statements
• Charters on Sustainable Development
• Voluntary Reporting
   

Guiding Principles

To develop and ensure credibility, CE firms should adopt practices:

• to continuously inform about efforts, success, problems
• to refer to performance indicators (quanitifiable)
• to meet the needs of the financial community
   

Guiding Principles II

The reporting issues / indicators should cover four areas :

• Management Policies and Systems
• Input / Output Inventory of Projects
• Stakeholder relations and partnerships
• Technology co-operation and global environment
   

Reporting Issues

Management Policies and Systems :

• Top Management Statement
• Sustainability Policy
• Sustainability Management System
• Responsibility and accountability
• Goals and targets
• R & D
• Reporting policy
• Corporate context
   

Input / Output Inventory of Projects :

• See questions in «Sustainability Checklist»
• Various activities of CEs are listed, which ask for
  • Input / Output
  • System boundaries
  • Sink limits
• Stakeholders want to follow the measures andimprovements
   

Stakeholder Relations and Partnerships :

Technology Co-operation and Global Environment :

Guiding Principles III

Reporting in favour of the own sector with information:

• to allow clients to choose CE-services in favour of SD
• to show that CEs take action against economically, socially and environmentally adverse effects that CEs support new sets of values
• that CEs participate in local political decision-making
• that CEs are skilled and interested to seek for visions and to create new solutions.

Building a Sustainable Business EnvironmentUsing the FIDIC Guidelines

William Wallace

Summary
Professional Education
Barriers
ABET «Engineering Criteria» 2000
Paradigm Shift in Engineering Practice
Some Guiding Principles for Professional Education
Communication
Some Guiding Principles for Communication

Summary

What changes to the business environment will be necessary to create an engineering practice which incorporates sustainable development principles?

• Build intellectual capacity through

  • Professional Education
  • Communication

Professional Education

• Sustainability problems are multidisciplinary

  • Requires a multidisciplinary education

• Integrate technology with the three dimensions of sustainability

  • Economic
  • Environmental
  • Social

Barriers

• Sustainability is usually not a part of engineering curriculums

  • Most follow the traditional disciplines: civil, chemical, electrical, mechanical
  • Too much to learn already!

• Need to add new topics

  • Natural systems engineering
  • Holistic approaches (e.g., life cycle analysis)

ABET «Engineering Criteria» 2000

Criterion 4: Professional Component

Students must be prepared for professional practice through a curriculum that includes «...most of the following considerations: economic; environmental; sustainability; manufacturability; ethical; health and safety; social; and political»



Earth Systems Engineering
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder

	VS.
NON-NATURAL SYSTEMS Cartesian Somewhat predictable Designed as closed systems	VS.	NATURAL SYSTEMS chaotic non-linear coupled open dissipative diverse non-Cartesian
Ref: Prof. Bernard Amadei, Univ. of Colorado, Earth Systems Engineering

Paradigm Shift in Engineering Practice

• From «control of nature» to participation with nature
• Multi-disciplinary focus: interaction between technical and non-technical disciplines
• Understand how engineered structures adapt and adjust to natural systems
• Understand the role of «appropriate» technologies

Ref: Prof. Bernard Amadei, Univ. of Colorado, Earth Systems Engineering

Some Guiding Principles for Professional Education

• At least 1 course in sustainable development
• Methods to increase participatory approaches, public involvement
• Disseminate tools for sustainable engineering practice

Communication

• Good communication is a prerequisite for the successful implementation of sustainable solutions

  • Communication needs to be two-way
  • To the full set of stakeholders
  • Demonstrate the benefits to stakeholders

    • Not just the ‰gmoral imperative‰h

Some Guiding Principles for Communication

• Transparency
• Knowledge management

  • Collect, disseminate case studies, best practices
  • Benchmark other companies, other industries
  • Technology transfer to World 2, World 3 countries

Urban Environmental Management System Training Kit

The UNEP/FIDIC/ICLEI Urban Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) Training Resource Kit

"Environmental management systems (EMS) were initially designed to ensure the sustainable management of the environment and development. First adopted by private organisations, especially businesses, their application has begun to spread to local authorities, which behave like enterprises, and are in fact major consumers with significant effects on the local economy and human health. They too must adopt EMS in order to encourage good practices among citizens, and to support initiatives for environmental consciousness among the business community." (FIDIC report 1/2001)

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) announced the availability of the Test Edition of the UNEP/FIDIC/ICLEI Urban Environmental Management: Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) Training Resource Kit at the 21st Governing Council Meeting of UNEP in Nairobi, Kenya on 6-9 February 2001. The Kit is a "train the trainer" modular system designed to assist local authorities, municipalities and local governments (or trainers thereof) in the development of a practical and pragmatic approach to implementing an environmental management system (EMS) in their own organisation. It builds on existing work, in particular the UNEP Application of Environmental Management Systems Principles to Urban Management, the work done by ICLEI on Eco-budgeting, and the UNEP-ICC-FIDIC EMS Training Resource Kit for companies.

This Kit aims at answering the need for a more systematic approach to environmental problem in cities. A growing number of local authority and city managers are facing an increasing demand for environmental quality from citizens. However, despite some cities adopting and successfully implementing an EMS, the number of local authorities to do so is very small compared to organisations in the private sector.

The Kit attempts to remedy the lack of education and training tools specifically designed to enable local authorities to assess the benefits, design and implement an EMS that meets their specific needs. For this reason, the Kit was designed and drafted in close co-operation with its users to be adaptable to various cultural and political situations.

The Kit provides a systematic approach to manage environmental issues and is based on the model of ISO 14001: 1996 requirements. For those who intend to be certified against this standard, even if only at a later stage of the EMS development, the Kit provides information on how to proceed. By guiding city managers through the implementation of an EMS, the Kit also intends to provide a series of tools to integrate sustainable development planning (such as Local Agenda 21, Climate Change Convention and other international agreements) into the various aspects and priorities of city management.

The Kit is targeted at change agents such as:

• People who will promote the concept and practice of an EMS for local authorities
• Local Government associations and training institutes
• Trainers who will implement the Kit by organising workshops
• City managers who will use it as a self-teaching tool to implement an EMS in their municipality

The Kit contains:

• Thematic modules (per ISO 14001: 1996 element) including Resource Kits, case studies, information material and exercises for the implementation of an environmental management system in local authorities.
• A method for training, organising workshop (distribution) and their follow-up (feedback).
• Tools for the dissemination of the concept of EMS for local authorities.

UNEP, FIDIC and ICLEI will build on and facilitate synergies and networking to promote the use and further development of the Kit. To this end the partners will activate their respective global networks of local and national authorities, professional associations and also international organisations involved in urban development. These networks will also provide the feedback necessary to make this Kit a "Living Resource" which will be improved and enriched constantly thanks to the feedback and emerging needs of its users.

A series of pilot train-the-trainer workshops started in Szentendre, Hungary on 19-23 March 2001 and in Singapore on 24-26 May 2001. Feedback will be evaluated and used as input for the definitive First Edition that is due for publication at the end of 2001. Both printed and electronic editions will be available, the latter through the FIDIC online Bookshop. FIDIC maintains up-to-date information at FIDIC.org/emskit

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