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Since the industrial revolution, the civil engineers who created a built environment for a civilisation that is based on fossil fuel have been admired. For over 250 years, engineers have been educated and trained for the 'upslope' of using ever more resources to fuel engineering needs. However, there is now an urgent requirement to enter an era that is an order of magnitude shorter, and which is on the steep 'downslope' towards net-zero carbon dioxide by 2050 or earlier. The difference between what it meant to be an engineer on the upslope and what it means to be engineer on the downslope is colossal. The first step for all educators is to realise this, to embrace it and to be part of the solution by instilling a downslope mentality in engineering students. The Joint Board of Moderators (JBM) has recently reviewed and updated its guidelines for universities. It has placed the climate emergency central to the education of future civil engineers. This paper describes the background to, and details of, the changes made by the JBM. Given that creativity is enhanced through these additional challenges, what could possibly be more exciting for today's engineering students than knowing that they will lead the profession in achieving massive reductions in emissions, to the benefit of all humanity? The JBM, and society, require of civil engineering education that this ambition is fulfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research is examining how nature-based solutions (NBS) are offering planners, politicians and engineers options to promote responses to a wide range of biophysical and socio-economic problems. However, despite the increasing popularity of NBS, there is limited analysis available on how these 'solutions' align with urban problems, at what scale they are most effective and what costs are associated with investment in urban nature. This paper analyses current approaches to urban sustainability through an examination of the EU Horizon 2020-funded project Urban GreenUP, in Liverpool (UK), to deconstruct how rhetoric translates to practical applications of NBS interventions. It interrogates the interactions of projects, policies and political buy-in for NBS and argues that an integrated understanding of scale, function and location is needed to successfully address issues of urban climate change vulnerability. This is contextualised against the wider discussions of NBS associated with other EU-funded projects. It concludes that although investment in NBS offers a useful approach to development, they cannot overcome existing barriers to investment in environmental improvements without attention to the same barriers that have always existed. Moreover, the paper argues that the promotion of NBS as solutions to problems is effective only when the problems are transparently and collaboratively defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among Asian countries, India has a vast potential to adopt a public bicycle-sharing system (PBSS) as a sustainable mode of transport after China. However, various barriers pose as hindrances in the implementation of PBSS in Indian urban areas. The primary objective of this paper is to identify and prioritise PBSS barriers, which inhibit the implementation of PBSS. For this study, a total of 31 barriers out of 41 reported barriers worldwide are shortlisted and ranked using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process. A group of experts assisted in ranking the barriers by using a pair-wise comparison survey. The main contribution of this paper is to identify critical barriers and to rank them according to the Indian scenario. These findings can help practitioners, municipal engineers, urban planners and decision makers to formulate PBSS planning policy, which will overcome the PBSS implementation issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a part of the drive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, embodied energy figures are under consideration for construction materials. One aspect that needs to be included is the loss of embodied energy associated with corrosion and degradation throughout the life of a structure. This paper presents a review of corrosion and protection methods from the point of view of whole-life embodied carbon. This paper presents the examples that provide the lowest embodied carbon option for different environments for steel and reinforced concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geotechnical constructions involve consumption of a vast amount of non-renewable natural resources and energy- and carbon dioxide-intensive materials (e.g. cement and steel) that contribute significantly to global warming and climate change. This paper uses drilled shafts as an example to illustrate the importance of environmental impact assessment in the design phase of foundations. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is used to quantify the environmental impacts of construction of single drilled shafts and groups embedded in sandy soil profiles. Parametric studies are conducted to investigate the effects of soil properties, design parameters and hauling distances of construction materials and equipment on the environmental impacts of single drilled shafts. For pile groups, different configurations, applied load, centre-to-centre spacing and thickness of pile cap are considered in the parametric study. The global warming impact and human toxicity of a typical drilled shaft are found to be 39 and 486% of annual world impact per person, respectively. Based on the study, charts and tables are developed that may be used for quick estimation of the global warming impact of drilled shafts without the use of specialised LCA software programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, the UN member countries, on mutual understanding, identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be achieved by 2030. According to several reports, some countries are reflecting good progress, but overall, no country is on track towards achieving all the UN SDGs. This paper aims to show the progress and commitment of the UAE towards UN SDGs. A qualitative research approach using a systematic literature review complying with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses and a semi-structured interview was adapted to achieve the aim of this research. The results reflect that the Emirates has achieved only one goal. Most of the remaining goals are not on track to be achieved by 2030. In fact, some of the goals related to energy and climate are becoming riskier. The country under its different initiatives aims to invest a total of US$163·35 billion in different projects that target to achieve 50% clean energy by 2050. It is, however, not clear from the government strategy how these targets will be achieved. Similarly, the government needs to ensure a close relationship between organisations so that the action of one unit does not derail the plans of other organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy is crucial to economic and social development and improves quality of life. However, fossil fuel energy produces greenhouse gases (GHGs) and cannot be sustained for a long time. It is essential to tackle these problems by moving towards renewable and sustainable energy. Some countries, including those in the Arabian Gulf region, are still in the appraisal stage of adopting different forms of renewable energy. This paper reviews the business potential and likely GHG reductions associated with adopting renewable energy in Oman. It is revealed that 1·9 Mt of annual carbon dioxide emissions could be cut by producing 10% of the country's electricity from renewables. The paper further discusses the global sustainable energy commitment under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and reviews the 2030 targets of some countries that are high producers of GHGs. It is anticipated that if all these planned targets are achieved, the total sustainable energy contribution could grow by nearly 11 000 TWh by 2030. These plans provide guidance for those countries still preparing to submit their plans to the UN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The earth is experiencing unprecedented change driven by increasing population, industrialisation and urbanisation. This is leading to rapid climate change and scarcity of resources. There is growing agreement globally of the need to deliver sustainable development to improve the lives of millions of people in low and middle income countries through provision of clean water, sanitation, energy and transport solutions. The response of the international community to this challenge is via the United Nations programme (published in January 2016), which establishes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including response to climate change. These SDGs will guide decisions taken by nations and organisations over the next 15 years. This paper is the written version of the opening keynote lecture delivered to the 3rd Pan American Conference on Geosynthetics in Miami Beach, USA, in April 2016; it considers the role that geosynthetics can make in achieving the SDGs. Scientific evidence for climate change is presented, and the value and uncertainty in available climate change information is discussed to inform its use in design. International agreements on reducing greenhouse gas emissions are based on country specific action plans for mitigation and adaptation against climate change, and the potential for geosynthetics to help achieve these targets is identified. Finally, approaches for calculating embodied carbon for solutions incorporating geosynthetics are introduced and case studies that provide evidence for the 'sustainability' case for geosynthetics are summarised. The geosynthetics community is challenged to play a leading role in helping to deliver the SDGs and hence a better future for populations worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the sustainability of civil infrastructure is critical to professionals, project owners, regulators, funding agencies and the public, little is done to link individual project sustainability to the UN's 17 global sustainable development goals for 2030. This paper not only provides some answers, but also exposes many questions that need resolution by the infrastructure sector. Using empirical evidence, the authors have identified a 'golden thread' between best-practice sustainability-reporting frameworks at the project level and those at the organisational level. In doing so, they have found that there is sufficient linkage to embed sustainable-development-goal impact targets into the design stage of an infrastructure project. This would provide a more robust investment appraisal at the project design phase, helping define project success more widely across the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental outcomes and associated impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geopolymers are a relatively new generation of construction materials developed with industrial by-products and supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) with high silica and alumina contents. In recent years, the demand for SCMs has increased significantly due to action plans on global climate change. In addition, construction and demolition wastes (CDWs) are a major concern in the construction sector and using them through the geopolymerisation process has therefore attracted the attention of researchers worldwide. This paper summarises the literature pertaining to the use of CDWs such as concrete, brick and ceramic as source materials in geopolymer technology, either alone or with SCMs. The literature indicates that CDW materials work well as the main source materials in geopolymer technology. However, due to the various parameters in geopolymerisation, research should move toward defining threshold levels and acceptable criteria rather than simply the best composition outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a review of geophysical and climatic trends associated with extreme weather events and natural hazards, their implications for urban areas and the effects of continued environmental modification due to urban expansion. It discusses how urban design, technological development and societal behaviour can either ameliorate or worsen climate-induced hazards in urban areas. Pressures – ranging from excessive rainfall causing urban flooding to urban temperature extremes driving air pollution – require more attention to understand, model and predict changes in hazards in urban areas. It concludes that involving different techniques for data analysis and system modelling is more appropriate for practical decision-making than a purely reductionist approach. Successfully determining the future environment of megacities will, however, require joint action with societally informed decision makers, grounded in sound scientific achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change seems to have had a notable effect on the environment. Natural disasters such as flooding are occurring more frequently but the human effect on the built environment and transportation is the greatest single cause of greenhouse gas emissions. The construction industry consumes a large amount of energy and natural resources, especially in construction materials. Hence, action is needed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, increase recycling and the reuse of materials and reduce water consumption. In this paper, the negative effect of the construction industry on climate is examined and remedial actions are proposed. A review of construction-related effects on climate change and sustainable construction is followed by a presentation of the authors' research on low-carbon dioxide concrete. Some examples of actions taken in Algeria to mimimise the effects of the industry on climate through research and practice are given. This mainly includes the use of cement replacement materials, recycling and efficient utilisation of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal slope instability poses a risk to life and material properties and is of great concern in times of climate change, posing challenges as communities seek to adapt and ensure resilience. This paper presents two case studies of coastal slope stabilisation efforts from Scotland and reflects the growing difficultly faced by coastal communities who value intervention but are limited by uncertain ownership, funding and access to expertise. In both cases, the slopes are owned by private charities with no power of authorisation or means of procuring stabilisation works to protect the adjacent communities. The engineering solutions included an innovative eco-engineering component where vegetation was used to perform an engineering function. Based on the experience with these projects, the authors advocate this sustainable technique supported by the evidence from monitoring and testing. The case studies emphasise the importance of engaging with the community as a means of achieving acceptance of a workable solution as well as participation in its long-term development. Another significant observation was the contribution played by establishment of a learning culture that is supported through inter- and intraproject knowledge transfer deemed necessary to promote the necessary double-loop learning evident in these projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil infrastructure, including the highway maintenance sector, is under increasing pressure to deliver 'low-carbon' services. Reducing this sector's 'carbon footprint' can help to meet targets set under the Kyoto Protocol. Carbon dioxide emissions reduction is now a legal requirement under the UK's Climate Change Act; infrastructure clients therefore require their supply chains to provide carbon footprint information. A new, more holistic, project-specific carbon footprinting approach is urgently needed to account for carbon in an integrated manner, identifying areas of carbon hot spots and developing a reduction hierarchy to support business decision making. In this paper a process-based carbon footprinting framework based on the PAS2050:2011 protocol is adopted. Results of case studies (focusing on the carbon footprint) of 'typical' UK highway maintenance processes are provided, namely pavement resurfacing, pavement marking, bulk lamp changing and grass cutting. These processes were selected across urban, semi-urban and rural site locations to investigate the significance of these locations on the carbon footprint. The results indicate the robustness of the PAS2050-compliant framework for highway maintenance carbon footprinting; areas of carbon hotspots and related reduction opportunities can be identified to inform the reduction hierarchy across the processes value chain. The research presented can be used as a framework to plan, evaluate and manage highway maintenance programmes and carbon budgets over the maintenance processes value chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water introduces both opportunities and risks to urban areas. Society is faced with the challenge of finding solutions to complex and interrelated problems such as living safely in densely populated deltas, planning ahead for climate change, finding alternatives to fossil fuels, and urban redevelopment. We need to make sure that all this is achieved in a sustainable way. This paper elaborates on the need to transition towards water-sensitive cities, drawing on the experience of urban water management and water-sensitive urban design in the Netherlands and the UK. This transition involves strengthening the integration of water in spatial planning and design processes, requiring any spatial intervention or new development to be evaluated on opportunities for sustainability and innovation. Design tools or building blocks are suggested that enable the transition to a city in which the awareness of water, energy, nature and living environment are connected, in which developments always take place in a resilient and climate-proof way, and where water can be a focus for enjoyment and vitality. The paper concludes with recommendations on how the UK can build on its own experience and learn from the Netherlands to achieve more water-sensitive urban design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the significance and importance of urban sustainability in China and China's history of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, this paper aims to incorporate the investigation of climate change and air pollution in urban sustainability research in China through a driver-pressure-state-impact-response model. The model has 12 indices: population, enterprise, registered vehicles, energy consumption, emissions and concentrations of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, land use change, annual temperature, tropical nights and reforestation were selected. It was used in the analysis of 14 cities in the Liaoning Province. The results show that the model is an effective tool for urban sustainability research, allowing for the investigation of interactions of climate change and air pollution and contributing to the body of knowledge by aiding generation of realistic and practical measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Businesses around the world are being asked to be more open about climate-change risks by adopting the best-practice guidelines of the international Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures. The property and construction sector contributes more than 40% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, yet not much is known about how these companies are addressing climate-change risk. Research was undertaken to address this gap by developing a system for assessing alignment with the task force guidelines, analysing the barriers for adopting the guidelines and providing recommendations for overcoming these barriers. Findings show that property and construction companies in countries such as Malaysia tend to fall into the 'laggard' group. There is also variation in the carbon dioxide metrics disclosed by companies, which makes comparison difficult. Some of the proposed recommendations to address them include forming an industry-specific network to share best practices, appointing a focal point by region to facilitate training and an international coordinated effort to harmonise existing tools relating to carbon dioxide reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-occupancy evaluation of buildings has been developing as a distinctive discipline for over 40 years, but has been traditionally more concerned with energy, social and architectural concerns in relation to the user rather than other issues of sustainability such as transportation, waste and resource use. This paper outlines the challenges of implementing post-occupancy evaluation in relation to rapidly developing UK government policy on climate change and other sustainability issues. It reviews developing methodologies and the progress to date in relation to key building typologies: offices, healthcare, education and housing. The methods are discussed in terms of their qualitative and quantitative aspects, as well as the degree of detail actually necessary to evaluate building performance effectively. A diagnostic approach that avoids any unnecessary and costly monitoring is advocated. Various barriers preventing the widespread implementation of post-occupancy evaluation are identified, including lack of legislation, threats of litigation, cost and the perception that the work of the design and building team is finished at the point of handover. The review concludes that it is not desirable to have one single method for evaluation, as each typology requires its own set of criteria. While a lack of education in professional programmes is an underlying barrier to implementation, there are positive signs that routine feedback is beginning to take hold in policy development and design office practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to determine the changing contribution of passive design strategies to maintain thermal comfort conditions under climate change in Turkey. A bioclimatic chart developed by Givoni was used for the analysis of architectural design philosophy associated with passive design strategies with the onset of climate change. Typical meteorological year 2 and predicted future weather data were used for plotting hourly climate parameters on the psychometric chart. The largest three cities in Turkey have been preferred as case studies using all year analyses. The results show that the level of thermal comfort increases in Istanbul and Ankara and it decreases only in Izmir due to the influence of climate change. Passive solar heating and high thermal mass/solar heating are effective solutions for the improvement of thermal comfort in winter for all cities. Although the contribution of these changes are for 2020, 2050 and 2080, they have a relatively positive impact at all times. Meanwhile, ventilation/thermal mass/evaporative cooling is an effective passive cooling technique for climate change in all cities. It is very clear that the demand for active cooling in buildings will increase in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable tourism has become a global concern in recent years. An approach is proposed to evaluate the sustainability of hotels and to compare their real actions and promotions. Following a study of relevant literature, a set of criteria for so-called green hotels was proposed. Multi-criteria decision making methods were then used, including the best–worst method to calculate the weights of all criteria, and the fuzzy technique-for-order-of-preference-by-similarity-to-ideal-solution method was then implemented to rank sustainability performance. The proposed model was applied to evaluate five hotels in Vietnam. The results showed that the criterion named 'green policy and regulation' played the most significant role in the sustainability practice of hotels. Sensitivity analysis was also applied to validate the research framework and eliminate the effects of bias. The proposed model is recommended for use in various other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geoengineering is the term used to describe environmental manipulation at a planetary scale. It is generally described as having two main categories: solar radiation management and carbon dioxide removal, with an aim to reduce or neutralise the effects of climate change and global warming. Techniques include carbon capture and storage, fertilising the oceans and sunshields in space. The deployment of such technologies would present ethical challenges and potential environmental and social problems. As a species we have already manipulated and impacted on the environment and a key issue remains: it is not possible to predict all of the consequences of interventions in natural systems. If such technologies were to be deployed we would be 'locked-in' to cycles; we would be committed to trying to innovate and engineer solutions to new problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers obstacles to effective spatial planning in the provision of sustainable water management in Great Britain. It examines the mechanisms for balancing the needs of designing for climate change, flood and water quality, and economic growth. It recommends new ways of partnership working for planners and engineers to overcome misunderstanding and lack of technical expertise.

Green walls can be used to control the building microclimate as passive systems for energy saving. Three vertical walls were built at the University of Bari (Italy). The first wall was covered with Pandorea jasminoides variegated and the second with Rhyncospermum jasminoides; the third wall was kept uncovered as a control. High-definition infrared images were recorded, and several climatic parameters concerning the walls and the ambient conditions were collected during the experimental test. The daylight temperatures observed on the shielded walls during warm days were lower than the respective temperatures of the uncovered wall by up to 9·0°C; the nighttime temperatures observed during cold days were higher than the respective temperatures of the control wall by up to 6·0°C. The effective thermal resistance of the plants was calculated, using experimental data for a whole year; it ranged from 0·07 to 3·61 m2 K/W. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approaches to adaptation to a changing climate in water resource planning have relied on both simulation and optimisation models. Simulation models project the impacts of climate change on water system performance, while optimisation models show the optimal system performance under climate change conditions. This study uses two water resource models to analyse a water resource system in Sussex (south-east England) under climatic and socio-economic uncertainty. Overall, the simulation and optimisation models show structural model uncertainty. The simulation model highlights potential vulnerability in current operational practice, while the optimisation model shows that the current system could be vulnerable to climate change and demand growth even under the best-case scenario. The integrated scenarios in this study combine both climate scenarios from four different climate products over the periods of 2020s, 2030s and 2050s and socio-economic scenarios represented by different demand profiles. The results show that water demand quickly becomes a controlling factor once it increases by more than 35% from the 2007 baseline level. Both models demonstrate a gradual increasing risk of supply deficit in the 2020s and the 2030s. Water deficit risks vary widely in the 2050s and are highly dependent on the socio-economic scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Windows are one of the thermally weakest parts of a building envelope and climate change is becoming an increasingly important parameter in evaluating the energy performance of buildings. This study investigated the effect of various window configurations on the energy behaviour of school buildings in three cities in Turkey based on climate change, orientation, glazing type and window size. Detailed parametric simulations were used and the results were compared in accordance with ISO 18292. The simulations indicate that the contribution of windows to cooling loads is highest when the value of the solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) is high and its contribution increases due to climate change. The -value of glazing is not as significant as the value of the SHGC for cooling. Orientation and window size are other important parameters that affect the energy performance of windows. In addition, in terms of energy costs and performance, it is more efficient for a building to be orientated in south or north directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]