How it may affect the Profession. Part 1
It is almost impossible to open a magazine, pick up a newspaper or listen to the news without seeing a reference to climate change and its effects. Unfortunately, the issue has become very politicized, in part because of the tremendous amounts of money at stake.
This three-part series looks briefly at climate change in general, but focuses on how climate change applies to structural engineers and what it could mean for the Standard of Care that their services are held to.
Global Warming Versus Climate Change
While the terms “climate change” and “global warming” are often used interchangeably, they have different, but related meanings. Global warming is the long-term heating of Earth’s surface since the pre-industrial period due to human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, which has increased greenhouse gas levels in the Earth’s atmosphere. In contrast, climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define the Earth’s local, regional, and global climates. These changes have a broad range of observed effects that have become synonymous with the term. Changes observed in Earth’s climate since the mid-20th century are primarily driven by human activities, particularly fossil fuel burning. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website is a very good source of information on both global warming and climate change. See for example:
https://climate.nasa.gov/global-warming-vs-climate-change
Designing for Weather-Related Events
Structural engineers have always had to deal with the challenge of resilient development and designing for weather-related events. Any time we disturb the ground and cover it with buildings, concrete, or asphalt, we disrupt the natural balance of water infiltration and potentially create runoff that can cause flooding. Engineers have usually found solutions to these challenges. But the scale of current weather-related events is creating new and more serious obstacles. At the same time, as real estate costs have soared in many areas of the country, we are often increasing the density of development on land that could be vulnerable to weather-related events.
Extreme Weather Events
Although extreme events and their severity vary geographically, there have been extreme weather events throughout the United States. While these events may not be directly caused by climate change, many in the scientific community believe that climate change is making such events more probable. Looking to the future, it is likely that many parts of this country and the world will face temperature extremes, more frequent and intense storms, more severe droughts, greater risks of wildfires, and increased flooding. Coastal areas will be especially prone to flooding because of rising sea levels. The effects of these events can also interact, exacerbating the potential for damage. Recent prolonged periods of drought have created a greater risk of wildfires; areas damaged by wildfire are especially prone to mudslides during heavy rains because there is no vegetation to aid in slope stabilization.
Climate Action Plans
The terms “decarbonization”, “net zero”, and “carbon neutral” are often heard in discussions of climate change, where decarbonization has the general meaning of reducing or eliminating carbon dioxide emissions, such as by switching away from fossil fuels in buildings and vehicles. Globally, the built environment generates approximately 40% of the total annual carbon dioxide emissions. Approximately 27% of this comes from building operations; the other 13% comes from the energy used in producing construction materials, referred to as embodied carbon. Structural engineers and other design professionals can thus play an important role in strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For more information, see the Architecture2030 website: https://architecture2030.org/why-the-building-sector
Approximately 34 states have climate action plans that include a general outline and steps that the state is going to take to address climate change. Many cities and towns have their own climate action efforts. Nevertheless, climate scientists generally acknowledge that it is too late to prevent or reverse the effects of climate change. Thus, climate adaptation strategies – i.e., adjusting to the current and future effects of climate change – have become crucial to planning, engineering, and related disciplines. However, while there is considerable data and research on climate adaptation strategies, implementation efforts to date have been limited and largely voluntary, reflecting the sometimes controversial political, economic, and social justice implications of climate adaptation. Existing regulatory and statutory requirements addressing climate adaptation have not brought about consistently applied changes in planning, engineering, land use, design, or development practices.
Climate Change Litigation
To date, litigation related to climate change has primarily targeted fossil fuel companies for causing climate change, but this may change as insurance carriers and courts struggle with how to apportion liability for the losses arising from claims related to climate change. The issue of “climate adaptation liability” and what it means for design professionals is likely to increase in importance as the effects of climate change continue to increase in size and scope. Unfortunately, litigation is sometimes seen as a vehicle for social change. An engineer may thus be caught up in a litigation whose intent is primarily to make a statement; the engineer’s services may be of secondary importance. Nevertheless, the litigation will likely allege that the engineer has not met the Standard of Care and that this breach of the Standard of Care is at least partly responsible for the plaintiff’s damages.
Stakeholders in construction projects, including the authorities having jurisdiction, are increasingly recognizing that structures need to be designed to withstand the climate conditions of the future. This leads to the question of whether engineers can be held liable for failing to anticipate the effects of climate change. While the answer, like many questions related to an engineer’s liability, is tied to the Standard of Care, how to determine the Engineer’s Standard of Care may not be straight forward. In addition, the terms of the design agreement can have a significant effect on the engineer’s potential liability for failing to adapt its designs for climate change.
Part Two of this series will take a detailed look at the Engineer’s Standard of Care and how it may be impacted by climate change.■