| Progress towards sustainability in engineering must speed up, according to a group of young engineers who carried out in-depth interviews with a cross-section of people from different sectors, including universities, local and national government, and professional bodies. The group found that many of the recommendations from an earlier inquiry in 2000 are not being taken seriously enough. The report, Change Challenges for Sustainability is the second stage of the Engineer of the 21st Century Inquiry which scores progress made so far in following up the recommendations of the 2000 inquiry which aimed to make UK engineering more sustainable. An average of only four out of ten points were awarded in the ten categories. The report identified change challenges for government, universities, employers and the professional bodies. Responding to the report at its launch at The Royal Society on 21 February Lord Sainsbury stressed its importance. ‘It tackles one of the key issues of our time, which is how to convince people that science and technology is the key to solving environmental problems,’ he said. He particularly welcomed the recommendation that the Government should consider introducing a special action research fund related to engineering education. ‘Part of the challenge is encouraging more young people to take up careers in science and engineering,’ he said. Stuart Barbrook from the Environment Agency and Rosie Jardine from the Health and Safety Executive presented the report’s challenge to the government to ‘be bold in your leadership towards sustainability’. Two main issues were highlighted, namely using public procurement to drive markets, information and culture, and a need to make taxation and other policies more comprehensive and consistent. The report’s second change challenge for universities aims to build the capacity of teachers and trainers to enable them to integrate sustainability into engineering courses. The report calls for universities to ‘be prepared to revolutionise how education is delivered’. Standard setters were urged by the report's writers to ‘start specifying for sustainability as a minimum and not a maximum standard’. Specifically ‘standards, which have not been reviewed since before the Rio Summit, need to be radically reviewed to fully embrace sustainable development’. Finally, employers and engineers should recognise that ‘sustainable development is the solution not the problem’, urged the report. Those employers who did not view sustainability as a strategic business opportunity were found not to be investing in the learning and recognition, or reward of engineers and their contribution to sustainability. The report concludes that changing institutions and established practice takes time, and that the change challenges are the vital next steps to the urgently needed practical action. |