The latest webinar in FIDIC’s ongoing 2024 series of online events took place on 5 November 2024, with a webinar looking at the need to build resilient infrastructure to take account of the challenges of climate change and ensure it is truly sustainable for the short, medium and long term.
The webinar, Resilient infrastructure: What does it look like and how do we achieve it? was organised by FIDIC’s Sustainable Development Committee and highlighted that resilient infrastructure was an indispensable foundation for achieving sustainable development. “Infrastructure provides critical services to communities, supporting economic functions and serving as the first line of defence against shocks and disasters,” said FIDIC board member and director of CES Consulting Engineers Salzgitter in Zambia, Martina Hess, as she opened the webinar. “Making infrastructure resilient is not a ‘nice to have’, it is absolutely essential, especially in the face of the growing impact of climate change affecting our planet,” said Hess.
An expert panel of speakers at the webinar was led by webinar chair, Natalie Muir, regional director, environment and geosciences at Stantec in Australia, who is also a vice-chair of FIDIC’s Sustainable Development Committee. Speakers included Pia Abercromby, leading specialist in sustainability at COWI from Canada, Vivian Lee, director of operations, water, environment and sustainability at Aurecon in China, Latoya Ouna, an independent infrastructure procurement and contracts consultant from Kenya, Tara Wood, head of sustainability and innovation at Ramboll in Sweden and Franziska Hunger, an applied researcher at the Fraunhofer-Chalmers Research Centre for Industrial Mathematics, also from Sweden.
Introducing the webinar, Natalie Muir highlighted some of the work of FIDIC’s Sustainable Development Committee, which played a key role in advising the FIDIC board and the wider consulting engineering industry on how to develop strategies, tools and training to maximise the sector’s contribution to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, assessing the potential impact of climate change and providing a forum for consulting engineers to share ideas about how they can enable mitigation, adaptation and resilience to climate change to develop and maintain buildings and infrastructure.
First speaker Pia Abercromby, a leading specialist in sustainability at COWI, highlighted the four Rs of resilience – robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness, and rapidity – and how these apply to the transportation infrastructure sector. She emphasised that "sustainability and resilience go hand in hand; a more sustainable system improves resilience." Abercromby also shared that "drawing sustainability into my projects helps to build their resilience." Additionally, she explored ways to integrate indigenous perspectives into infrastructure planning to further enhance resilience.
Vivian Lee, director of operations, water, environment, and sustainability at Aurecon, spoke about some of the innovative water management strategies that she believed were essential for addressing the dual challenges of water scarcity and flooding. She emphasised the importance of infrastructure adapting to the changing situation and highlighted the need for "connected infrastructure systems that can support each other." Lee also discussed how integrating nature-based solutions into traditional engineering practices is crucial to enhancing climate resilience.
Independent infrastructure procurement and contracts consultant, Latoya Ouna, highlighted the importance of establishing the right framework for projects and discussed the key role that ‘green public procurement’ plays in ensuring the delivery of climate-resilient infrastructure projects. She noted that "climate change creates uncertainty and it can be difficult to navigate this in the current PPP structure," emphasising that good contract management is essential in delivering resilience in infrastructure projects.
Tara Wood, head of sustainability and innovation at Ramboll, highlighted the importance of future-proofing existing infrastructure in the context of climate change, emphasising the need for “resilient infrastructure that can cope with the uncertainty that the future holds.” Given that much of the world’s infrastructure is already in place, adaptation is crucial to ensure it remains fit for purpose. Wood also explored how digital twin technologies and data can be leveraged to better understand and mitigate climate risks in urban environments, asking, “How do we harness the potential of digital twins and asset design to create more holistic cities of the future?” She further stressed the importance of “having the right data in the right place at the right time” to support these initiatives.
Final speaker Franziska Hunger, an applied researcher at the Fraunhofer-Chalmers Research Centre for Industrial Mathematics, expanded on this topic by examining how models and data are increasingly vital for assessing climate risk. She discussed how the creation of these models and innovative data usage can drive greater resilience. Hunger stressed the importance of asking “critical questions about the accuracy of the tools and the outcomes," noting that "different tools can be relevant at different parts of the project lifecycle.” She also highlighted the need for "close collaboration between stakeholders in the project" to ensure these models are effectively utilised. Additionally, she outlined steps necessary to promote the global adoption of these models to enhance policy development and decision-making on resilient infrastructure.
Summing up the webinar, FIDIC board member Martina Hess said: “Today’s event has highlighted the importance of making our infrastructure more resilient. It’s clear from our discussions at this webinar that this task is a collaborative one that requires many stakeholders to work together to achieve it. It’s also clear that our industry and the role of consulting engineering professionals will be critical in that process.”
The next webinar in FIDIC’s 2024 series of events, Tackling corruption and rooting it out of the industry. An essential webinar for International Anti-Corruption Day takes place on Monday 9 December and has been organised to coincide with the UN International Anti-Corruption Day. The event will give updates on the collaborative work being undertaken to combat corruption, including the ongoing industry initiative between FIDIC and EY.
View the full webinar recording below.
