Evaluating the effectiveness of irrigation expansion projects in the Gambia Agriculture plays a pivotal role in the economies of many Sub-Saharan African countries, providing livelihoods for more than half of the region's population. However, challenges such as food insecurity and poverty persist...
Financing of off-grid solar in informal settlements in Africa - Practice and opportunities The use of traditional fuels poses significant respiratory health risks, fire hazards, and hampers economic opportunity. To address this, the South African government introduced the Free Basic Alternative...
Quantifying the climate impact of early-stage ventures The 2023 International Energy Agency Net Zero update estimates that 35% of the emissions reductions required to achieve net zero by 2050 will come from technologies not yet commercially available (IEA, 2023). This necessitates dedicated funding...
Sustainability evaluation of bio-inspired construction The construction industry’s role in shaping the built environment and promoting development places it in a critical position for achieving progress in sustainable development. By seeing nature as a source of solutions, bio-inspired construction...
A roadmap for introducing low carbon technology to fertiliser plants – How can we accelerate progress? Food systems rely on nitrogen fertilisers to ensure agricultural productivity, while their production and use account for approximately 5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As global...
Innovation ecosystem for sustainable development in community centres: A case study in Zanzibar Emerging economies experiencing tourism expansion are subject to a range of sustainable development issues, including economic leakages of tourism profits, cultural erosion, and degradation of natural...
Enhancing urban flood resilience in Nairobi using the Sponge City Concept Urban flooding has become a persistent issue in Kenya posing a significant threat to the development, sustainability and liveability of its rapidly expanding cities. These flood events often result from intense rainfall...
A global analysis of perception, risk and resilience towards disasters The current understanding of the distribution of hazards and human vulnerabilities is well-documented. However, there is a need for a global and developing countries’ perspective on disaster risk perception (Buchenrieder, Brandl...
Adapting aviation: An enhanced risk assessment methodology incorporating climate projection data for the purpose of increasing airfield climate resilience There is strong scientific consensus that climate change is increasing global exposure to more extreme weather events. In addition to being a...
Performance measurement priorities & sustainability assessment tools: The case of BREEAM in the UK construction sector The construction industry, whilst being essential for the UK’s socio-economic activities, continues to face chronic economic, social and environmental issues such as being...
The need to engage in better problem definition through careful dialogue with all stakeholder groups and a proper recognition of context.
Perspectives
An ability to work with specialists from other disciplines and professional groups acknowledging that technical innovation and business skills also must be understood, nurtured and combined as precursors to the successful implementation of sustainable solutions.
Change
An understanding of mechanisms for managing change in organisations so future engineers are equipped to play a leadership role.
Tools
An awareness of a range of assessment frameworks, sustainability metrics and methodologies such as Life Cycle Analysis, Systems Dynamics, Multi-Criteria Decision making and Impact Assessment.
