By Jerome F. Hajjar, Ph.D., P.E., NAE, F.SEI, F.ASCE
The construction and operation of the built environment accounts for a large portion of global greenhouse gas emissions. Governments, owners, occupants, architects, and engineers increasingly recognize the centrality of the structural engineering profession in our collective efforts to mitigate climate change. The United Nations (UN), through the Conference of Parties (COP) yearly intergovernmental summit aimed at creating global cooperation on issues of mitigating climate change, met in December 2023 in Dubai for COP28, at which they continued development of a Breakthrough Agenda.
According to the UN Environment Program, the Breakthrough Agenda “provides a framework for countries, businesses and civil society to join up and strengthen their actions every year in key emitting sectors, through a coalition of leading public, private and public-private global initiatives.” The Breakthrough Agenda is focused heavily on areas central to structural and civil engineering, including Power, Road Transport, Steel, Buildings, and Cement & Concrete, with the latter two recently adopted following COP28.
COP28 and the Breakthrough Agenda
The Breakthrough Agenda goals are ambitious, and our structural engineering expertise is indispensable in achieving them. The world’s leading carbon producing countries are committing to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, with the United States and the European Union pledging to reach the goal by 2050, China following a decade later, and India committing by 2070. In addition, the United States has committed to reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by over 50% from 2005 levels by 2030 and achieving carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035. The White House has highlighted major U.S. steel and cement companies’ commitments to net-zero emissions no later than 2050.
Structural engineers are increasingly taking a lead in achieving these goals through research and design innovations that:
• Reduce the quantities of materials needed for construction.
• Enable the reuse of components at the end of the life of a structure.
• Utilize recycled materials made with electricity obtained from renewable resources.
• Adopt fabrication and construction practices that use electricity instead of fossil fuel for transportation and on-site power.
• Conceive of novel structural solutions for resilience in the face of natural disasters increasingly driven by climate change.
The Structural Engineering Institute as a Leader in Sustainability and Resilience
The Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) is especially well positioned to take broad leadership in addressing sustainability and resilience in the built environment. We are always looking for leaders, partners, and innovators to help drive forward new solutions. Throughout SEI and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), there are numerous efforts to address climate change and its impact on the built environment, including Resilience and Sustainability Committee efforts, and the publication of the new ASCE/COS 73-23: Standard Practice for Sustainable Infrastructure.
Within SEI, the Technical Committee on Sustainability is leading several outstanding initiatives, including producing major reports on Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment: Reference Building Structure and Strategies, and Structural Materials and Global Climate: A Primer on Carbon Emissions for Structural Engineers; as well as spawning the SE2050 initiative. As the lead organization for the SE2050 initiative, SEI members are working with companies to foster commitments to incorporating sustainable design into their practice and providing technical information and education forums to foster sustainable design.
In addition, a Future Conditions Subcommittee has been formed within the standards committee that produces ASCE/SEI 7 Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures. The subcommittee is developing a plan to address climate change within the ASCE 7 standard, a crucial step forward within our profession.
A New Paradigm in Structural Engineering Education
In addition to the evolutions required in our practice, it is important to consider integration of sustainability and resilience in our higher education programs. There is increasing recognition that our emphasis in structural engineering education is starting to shift, as programs adopt new courses and degree programs related to repair, retrofit, and rehabilitation of structures; addressing embodied carbon as a key design objective; and considering resilient design strategies for structures. Industry is seeking new talent trained to meet climate-related engineering challenges, and today’s students are vocal in their desire to study and address these issues.
New Framework for Structural Design
It is my hope that sustainability and resilience become premier design objectives within our profession, underpinned by our current design objectives that address safety, serviceability, constructability, aesthetics, and economy. Achieving ubiquitous sustainable and resilient structural designs will take more than technical innovation. It will require an evolving mindset within the profession and the public. We can each take steps to accelerate this transformation through continuing to learn about and adopt structural systems and practices that are more sustainable and resilient, and advocating for these designs within the profession and to the public.
Representing one of the largest structural engineering organizations and publishers of structural engineering information in the world, the Structural Engineering Institute continues to take the lead in partnering with other organizations worldwide to address global opportunities for fostering sustainable and resilient structural design. For those interested in participating in such activities, I encourage you to join the SEI efforts underway, initiate new SEI efforts, and attend forums and conferences in which SEI is a host or partner organization—www.asce.org/SEI . Together we can develop the vital solutions required to address sustainability and resilience in structural engineering. ■
Jerry Hajjar is CDM Smith Professor and Chair of the Northeastern University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and President of SEI.