By Asitha Jayawardena
A book, UN75: Sustainable Engineering in Action, was launched by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE UK) on 16 November 2020.
The book in full can be found here
The UN at 75
At the start of the United Nations (UN) 75 years ago, on 16 November 1945, the UNESCO charter was signed at the first-ever UNESCO meeting took place in the Great Hall, One Great George Street – the home of the ICE. This book was published by the ICE in partnership with publisher Artifice Press. The book celebrates both the 75th year of the UN and the progress in engineering sustainability over this time.
Infrastructure is the key to sustainable development, especially 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that was created as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015. Civil engineers have an important role to play in working 17 areas of SDGs as well as making society and the world more sustainable.
UN75: Sustainable Engineering in Action presents the stories of engineering innovation of the last 75 years, developing engineering sustainability as a mindset within the built environment sector. The contributions to the stories come from consultants, international agencies, infrastructure organisations, environmental firms and educational institutions.
The book: the UN at 75
The book UN75: Sustainable Engineering in Action begins with two accounts of Foreword, first by Rachel Skinner, ICE President, and then by Grete Faremo, Under-Secretary-General and UNOPS Executive Director.
An introduction from Mark Hansford, ICE Director of Engineering Knowledge, follows Transforming the World and Shaping the Future. The core of the book of 272 pages is divided into five sections:
- Economic development and innovation
- Health, water and food
- Education, rights and equality
- Environment and energy
- Urban growth
In Appendices, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are given with targets related to engineering. ICE timeline, About ICE and the publisher (i.e. Artifice Press) are among other topics in the Appendices.
The webinar and the launch of the book
On 16 November 2020, the webinar started online with a welcome from Chair Mark Hansford, ICE Director of knowledge.
It followed by the following presentations:
- ICG and Infrastructure Digitisation, by Jason Tucker, Director of Strategic Delivery & Commercial at Anglian Water.
- The importance of water: examples of a systems-based approach, by Steve Crosskey, Head of Strategic Initiatives at the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
- Ensuring the sustainability of water supply and sanitation in low-income countries, by Vincent Casey, Senior water, sanitation and hygiene manager at WaterAid.
- Digital solutions to sustainability challenges, by Mat Kellett, National Sales Manager – Geopositioning, Topcon.
- Inspiring trust for a more resilient world: Sustainable Engineering, the power of consensus, by Dr Scott Steedman, Director of Standards for the British Standards Institution (BSI).
- Understanding carbon footprint costs and options, by Muhammad Malik, CEO and Founder, NeuerEnergy.
After that, the Questions and Answer session followed.
Anna Danby, Publishing Director, Artifice Press, talked about the launch of the book, UN75: Sustainable Engineering in Action.
Finally, Mark Hansford summed up the comments and thus ended a webinar of the Sustainable Engineering of the UN.
More…
UN75: Sustainable Engineering in Action eBook https://www.un-75.org/ebook
UN75: Sustainable Engineering in Action, book launch and webinar (see the presentation) https://www.ice.org.uk/eventarchive/sustainable-engineering-in-action-webinar
UN75: Sustainable Engineering in Action book published https://www.ice.org.uk/news-and-insight/latest-ice-news/un75-sustainable-engineering-in-action-book-launch
Sustain 
Sounds like a thoughtful, informative read!
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Thank you!
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