What Role Do Mechanical Engineers Have In Combatting Climate Change?
Preventing the worst ramifications of climate change is an all-hands-on-deck challenge. Each of us has different skills and strengths that extend into our roles for securing the best future we can have. When it comes to engineering, particularly mechanical engineering, the responsibilities are far-reaching.
Mechanical engineers play an important role in building the proper infrastructure to set up the rest of the world for a future that’s environmentally friendly and free from excess pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. In truth, all aspects of all industries need to become sustainable. To achieve this, we must start from the ideation, design, construction, and implementation of software and hardware that gets us to that point. Mechanical engineers are the masterminds behind much of this, and therefore have a responsibility to be well informed on the best practices, frameworks, and resources that are available.
Engineering Responsibilities
At its simplest level, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics explains that mechanical engineers, “design, develop, build, and test mechanical and thermal sensors and devices”. They are the key to the puzzle of so many tools we use and operate today, vastly increasing the quality of human lives. Without these tools and the engineers that made them, our collective progress would be far behind what it is today.
Another way of putting it is that engineers create solutions for humans. Project Drawdown has ranked the most impactful climate solutions, and most if not all of them require engineering input. Thus, engineers across the world represent the frontline of many challenges but particularly play a leading role in creating the possibility of a sustainable future. Addressing climate change not only represents an urgent humanitarian challenge but also a multi-trillion-dollar economic transformation that will be catalyzed through engineering and innovation, and to permanently implement the above climate solutions, engineers must be highly involved.
Synergy with Climate Change Prevention
It is now clear that every machine that’s designed and built must take into account potential climate ramifications. Project Drawdown has summarized the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, all of which rely on engineering to directly reduce the volume of these planetary warming gasses entering the atmosphere. If an industry is to become clean, so too must its devices. From electricity production to industry, transportation, and buildings, climate solutions may not be obvious to the general public, but can and must be made clear to the people behind the scenes.
Sustainability remains a core priority within engineering leads, including the global engineering community and The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Climate action is happening now across almost every sector and industry, and the imperative to act is reshaping how our interconnected world does business. There will be a significant impact on the quality of life if we are not able to limit global warming to a 1.5 °C increase above pre-industrial levels, and without the proactive help of engineers, it wouldn’t be possible to achieve. Humanity, animals, plants, and a livable ecosystem now depend on engineers. Thankfully, we have already started heading down the right path.
Real-Life Cases
ASME is home to 150,000+ engineering members and exists as, “an organization to leverage the power of engineering to benefit humanity”. Since its establishment in 1880, they’ve grown to cover more than 135 countries and train 5,000 individuals every year. Each of these has the knowledge, power, and responsibility to make the world a better place.
OnePointFive has worked with ASME on several initiatives focused on addressing engineering climate solutions. From developing and recommending a climate transition strategy & plan to focusing on transformative actions to be taken in key focus areas of technology, workforce, and policy, what stemmed as an idea is now translating into a real-world difference.
Most recently, OnePointFive and ASME have drafted, socialized, and ratified a climate position statement to spearhead and publicize a climate strategy roll-out. This has enabled engineers to confidently address climate change and support the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. The international engineering workforce now has the resources they need to create a carbon-negative future, facilitate important conversations on prioritization of engineering climate solutions, and align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
As ASME’s official statement puts it, “Engineers are distinctly positioned to create and advance climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience technologies and strategies… Specifically, ASME will leverage its leadership in innovation and technology, workforce development, and policy to catalyze urgent outcomes”. That’s exactly why OnePointFive collaborated with ASME over the past eight months to develop a climate position statement for publication, present a climate strategy to the organization's governance, and create 3-, 5-, and 10-year implementation plans.
More specifically we delivered education & ideation workshops and executive presentations while supporting the drafting of an inaugural climate position statement. We also provided research documentation that covered over 20 interviews and a review of over 60 internal and external documents & initiatives. Finally, we channeled ASME’s stance on climate into a statement and presented it to volunteer leadership, also covering how other engineering professional organizations like Engineers Without Borders are acting on climate. All of this came together for the 150,000+ members of ASME who are now better equipped to tackle climate change.
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