INNOVATION September-October 2015

operation decisions without appropriate engineering and professional judgment. Fortunately, engineers regularly work with uncertainty in design and operations and have developed methods to deal with it. Engineering vulnerability and risk assessment can help to ensure that climate change is considered in engineering design, operations, and maintenance of civil infrastructure. Identifying the components of the infrastructure within a system that are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts enables cost-effective engineering, operations, and policy solutions to be developed. Establishing the exposure and sensitivity of infrastructure to threats—whether from natural causes, such as extreme climate events or earthquakes, or from man-made sources—is an integral part of sound asset management, and can mitigate The engineering profession has been actively engaged on this issue for more than 10 years. It works in collaboration with municipal, provincial and federal owners of infrastructure to: • Determine current and future climate risks through assessments of existing public infrastructure; • Review Canadian design and construction codes, standards, and related instruments for infrastructure; • Work with climate scientists and Environment Canada on climate information needs for the engineering community, and; • Work with other professional groups to define and address climate risks and adaptation strategies. Since 2004, Engineers Canada has worked in partnership with its provincial and territorial engineering regulatory bodies in Canada on national and regional issues related to climate change and its impacts on Canada’s infrastructure. It has done this by: • Educating the engineering community, planners, and management; • Delivering locally organized professional development workshops; • Communicating climate risks and vulnerabilities to infrastructure major losses and damage. The Role of Engineering

of civil infrastructure to changing climate. In May 2015, Engineers Canada released the Canadian Engineering Qualifications Board’s Principles of Climate Change Adaptation for Engineers . 1 The guideline’s overall intent is to help ensure engineers consider the implications of climate change in their professional practice and create clear records of the outcomes of those considerations. The guideline consists of nine principles that constitute the scope of professional practice for engineers to initiate the specific climate change adaptation actions. Events in the U.S. have demonstrated the vulnerability of urban, transportation and power infrastructure to extreme weather. In November 2012, Hurricane Sandy flooded Lower Manhattan, including the Battery Park Underpass, with record-level storm surge. PHOTO: PATRICK BLOODGOOD, U.S. ARMY.

owners, regulators, and operators; • Communicating solutions that improve climate resilience of infrastructure; • Defining professional and legal liabilities; • Defining ethical obligations, and; • Developing and sharing practice guidelines Three examples of this work are summarized below. Principles of Climate Change Adaptation for Engineers The engineering profession has developed practice guidance to support adaptation

PRINCIPLES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION ACTIONS (Source: Engineers Canada) Professional Judgment Guideline Element #1: Integrate Adaptation into Practice Guideline Element #2: Review Adequacy of Current Standards Guideline Element #3: Exercise Professional Judgment Integrating Climate Information Guideline Element #4: Interpret Climate Information Guideline Element #5: Work with Specialists and Stakeholders Guideline Element #6: Use Effective Language Practice Guidance Guideline Element #7: Plan for Service Life Guideline Element #8: Use Risk Assessment for Uncertainty Guideline Element #9: Monitor Legal Liabilities

1. www.engineerscanada.ca/sites/default/files/01_national_guideline_climate_change_adaptation.pdf

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