Engineers serve society and there is no greater service right now than decarbonisation of global infrastructure. Ahead of FIDIC’s Global Infrastructure Conference, we speak with BG Consulting Engineers group CEO, Pierre Epars (PE), about how important it is to take the right approach.
IG: The world is now alive to the damage and dangers of climate change. How crucial is it that engineers be given the tools to identify and share practical solutions for turning fine commitments and ambitions into real outcomes on the ground?
PE: “Engineers have played a major role in the development of civilisation since a country’s wealth and gross domestic product have always been closely linked to its infrastructure. In this sense, I believe that engineers already have everything in their hands and are more than ever at the forefront of progress.
“For example, they – I mean we – do have numerical planning tools to better anticipate and reduce energy consumption during operations, we do have ways to assess carbon impact of construction materials, we do have means to reduce emissions during building phase, etc. However, we need to speak up, take our place within the society, and share our insights and ideas, our creativity and expertise in using technology wisely to build a more sustainable, frugal and inclusive world.”
IG: One of the big challenges with carbon is establishing norms and systems for calculating and verifying carbon impact. Are things like carbon balance sheets now helping to solve that challenge on projects?
PE: “Carbon balance sheets will help. We at BG consulting Engineers have created our carbon calculator tool that takes into account all project phases, from planning to operations and dismantling. Carbon emissions for a specific project depend on system boundaries. They depend on which scopes are included in the calculations. Do we consider grey energy from construction materials or not? Do we consider grey energy for the provisioning of renewable energy sources (e.g. wood) during operation?, etc. This is where the industry needs to agree. I am afraid it will take time.
“In any case, efficiency and frugality will be key. First thing: we must challenge the needs of the customer. Second: material choice and construction/deconstruction systems shall be chosen with regards to carbon impact. Third: we need to challenge the operating conditions of the planned construction. Fourth: we need to challenge the energy source and make sure that all energy sources are renewable.”
IG: Engineering companies themselves must set clear goals to achieve their own decarbonisation and other ESG ambitions. How do you ensure all staff feel part of that process and contribute to its success?
PE: “CSR – corporate social responsibility – is one of the four BG core values, and it has been defined in a participative process with our employees. Our sustainability commitments are planned and monitored by a specific internal committee and unfold along four axes – combining economic performance and business ethics, committing to the growth and development of our employees, becoming involved in local life and contributing to its development, and respecting our environment.
“We are currently training our teams to not only reduce the carbon footprint in our client’s building and infrastructure projects, but also to minimise the emissions related to our own operations. We need in particular, to take advantage of changing working environment and the capacity to reduce CO2 emissions related to employee mobility.”
IG: To do that requires innovation. BG has partnered with UBS to create a support mechanism for innovative start-ups. How important is it that we create more ‘innovation space’ like that throughout the wider infrastructure sector?
“We are convinced that collective intelligence and innovation are the key to developing new products and services to address both climate and society challenges. In innovation, speed is key and open innovation, which promotes collaborations with startups and universities, helps by reducing time to market and investment risks.
“In order to position ourselves, we engineers need to push boundaries, break the way of understanding our business and create new value. The Boost My Startup Challenge, that we initiated together with a leading Swiss bank, allows us to offer a business development ecosystem to startups and to share the risks of developing sustainable services adapted to the needs of our customers.”
Pierre Epars will be joining a panel to discuss “Accelerating the decarbonisation challenge” at the FIDIC Global Infrastructure Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on 12 September 2022.
