INNOVATION January-February 2017

f ea t u r e s

The Province of British Columbia recently announced its own climate leadership plan. It identifies actions across sectors of relevance to APEGBC members, including transportation, the built environment, natural gas extraction and use, and renewable electricity generation. Local governments in BC, which employ many BC engineers, are also taking leadership roles in helping to make utility infrastructure and the built environment resilient to climate change. Supporting Climate Change Mitigation The science of climate change is robust (See sidebar). The increasingly active response by different levels of government makes it clear APEGBC and its members will have important roles to play in this area. Climate change can be seen as a risk management issue (See page 16, Innovation July/August 2016), and APEGBC members are already highly experienced with accounting for and managing risk in their work. Furthermore, APEGBC members will need to demonstrate due diligence and the application of best practices with respect to both climate adaptation and mitigation. Reduction of greenhouse gases, specifically carbon dioxide and methane, represents an effective method for mitigating the risks presented by the changing climate system. In this context, APEGBC Council endorsed APEGBC’s position on human-induced climate change. By publishing the position paper, APEGBC: 1. Commits to supporting its members in meeting their obligations under the Engineers and Geoscientists Act by providing climate change-related materials; 2. Identifies the need to provide input into processes at the different levels of government that may have implications to the practice of engineering or geoscience; 3. Encourages members to consider the impact of their work on the climate, especially with respect to projects and professional activities that have associated greenhouse gas emissions; and, 4. Challenges geoscientists and engineers to evolve their professional practice to incorporate climate change adaptation and mitigation as holding paramount the protection of public health and safety is part of our Code of Ethics. Climate mitigation targets in projects and initiatives, whether driven by regulation or a client’s scope of work, provide opportunities for APEGBC members to develop and implement innovative solutions in all areas of their work. Key areas where members are expected to contribute include implementation of energy-efficiency technologies, development of cost-effective renewable energy sources and energy storage, research on carbon capture and storage technology, adoption of low-carbon vehicles and development of intelligent transportation networks, use of technologies that reduce energy use and emissions from new and existing buildings, and energy and resource recovery within waste management. Technological innovations, land-use change, construction of new infrastructure, and behavior change all affect greenhouse gas emissions, both in the near term and in the decades ahead. Many APEGBC members already know how to increase energy efficiency and encourage use of renewable energy in their work—these efforts will help to reduce emissions and contribute meaningfully to climate mitigation.

What Climate Science Tells Us As applied scientists, APEGBC members can look to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for the best available summary of climate change science. The IPCC synthesises peer-reviewed research from thousands of scientists about the climate system and how it is likely to change in the future. Contributing scientists range from theoretical physicists to economists, and include many engineers and geoscientists. Three working groups form the core of the IPCC. The first working group summarises knowledge about the climate system, based on theoretical premises, observation, and modeling. The second group describes on how climate change will affect humans and the environment in which they live. The third group explores policy options for lessening the likelihood of climate change. Atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) continues to rise, because the rate at which humans add CO 2 to the atmosphere via fossil fuel combustion substantially exceeds the rate at which natural sinks such as oceans and forests can remove it. Unlike nitrogen—the atmosphere’s most plentiful gas— atmospheric CO 2 is a greenhouse gas, and increasing its atmospheric concentration leads to a radiative imbalance. An increase in Earth’s surface temperature is a direct result of this imbalance. The IPCC’s Summary for Policymakers from its Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report states: Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems. Limiting climate change would require substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions which, together with adaptation, can limit climate change risks.

Building Momentum: Context From local to global scales, momentum has been building to take action on climate change. Delegates to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change met in Paris last December at the 21 st Conference of Parties (COP21). Policy makers reached a landmark agreement to maintain global temperature rise in this century below 2 o Celsius. The agreement signifies global recognition of climate change challenges, and identifies the need to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable, low-carbon future. Canada’s government is developing a pan-Canadian framework for combatting climate change, which will involve the provinces’ and territories’ participation.

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