Exploiting data in engineering to mitigateclimate change

Smart sustainability

The 2018 UN Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC) report1 brings focusto the pressing challenge to keep globalwarming to a maximum of 1.5ºC. If weignore this warning the consequences formillions of people around the world will bedrought, floods, extreme heat and poverty.Action must be taken to cut carbonpollution by 45 per cent by 2030 and toreach zero emissions by 2050. We have lessthan 12 years to limit the impacts of climatechange – the lifetime of a largeinfrastructure programme.

CSIC Roundtable Discussion Paper Global Engineering CongressInstitution of Civil Engineers

Roundtable participants:Tim Chapman

Tristan McDonnellARUP

Steven CrosskeyUNOPS

Prof Richard DawsonNewcastle University

Tim EmbleyCostain

Tom FoulkesIndependent consultant

Prof Jim HallUniversity of Oxford

Olivier HautefeuilleSCOR Global P&C

Sarah HayesNational Infrastructure Commission

Kirsten HensonKLH Sustainability

Dee Dee FrawleyProf Lord Robert Mair CBE

Dr Ajith ParlikadDr Jennifer Schooling OBEUniversity of Cambridge

John PeltonJacobs

Lucy RewEGIS

Mike SpencerInternational Association of Engineering Insurers

Dr David TylerEBRD

Chris KitelyTideway

The decisions we make today are critical inensuring a safe and sustainable world foreveryone, both now and in the future. This[IPCC] report gives policymakers andpractitioners the information they need tomake decisions that tackle climate changewhile considering local context and people’sneeds. The next few years are probably themost important in our history.

Debra Roberts Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II2

“

In October 2018 the Cambridge Centre for SmartInfrastructure and Construction (CSIC) hosted aroundtable discussion during the Global EngineeringConference (GEC) at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)in London to explore exploiting data as an engineeringtool to mitigate climate change. The roundtable includedexperts from the infrastructure and construction sector,academia, sustainability, finance, insurance, developmentand policy. Discussions focused on how civil engineerscan engage with the challenges of mitigating andresponding to climate change, the role of data inmitigating risk and unlocking projects, and thechallenges and opportunities of implementing smartinfrastructure solutions in a developing world context.This paper summarises discussions at the roundtable,focusing on the role and responsibility of engineers andmaking the case for exploiting data as an engineeringtool to mitigate climate change.

Background

The 2018 UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) report1 brings focus to the pressing challenge tokeep global warming to a maximum of 1.5ºC. If we ignorethis warning the consequences for millions of peoplearound the world will be drought, floods, extreme heatand poverty. Action must be taken to cut carbonpollution by 45 per cent by 2030 and to reach zeroemissions by 2050. We have less than 12 years to limit the impacts of climate change – the lifetime of a largeinfrastructure programme.

The challenge

Smart sustainability 1

Throughout history civil engineers have been at theforefront of innovation to meet the challenges of theirtimes – from Thomas Telford’s roads, bridges and canalsthat laid the foundations of industrial Britain, to the life-saving system of sewers designed by JosephBazalgette, to the current Thames Tideway Tunnel thatupgrades London’s sewer system to cope with a growing population.

The climate crisis needs urgent action if we are to avoidrunaway climate change. Civil engineers have a key role inmeeting this challenge by delivering and managing aresilient built environment that requires fewer resources andless carbon for its construction and operation. It is time forengineers to take their seat at the top table in discussions ofclimate change mitigation and adaptation at policy level, andcontribute to a discourse currently dominated by economics,finance and politics. More leadership is needed from the civilengineering community to engage effectively with wideraudiences and to demonstrate the value of engineeringknowledge and expertise, underpinned by data andinformation, in meeting the challenges ahead.

Innovation in monitoring, data collection and analysisprovides today’s engineers with valuable tools to tackle thechallenges of climate change by enabling more resource andcarbon-efficient design, construction, and operation andmaintenance of infrastructure and the built environment. Inorder to enable engineers to be more effective in respondingto climate change several important considerations need tobe more prevalent in civil engineering practice.

The role and responsibility of the civil engineer inresponding to the challenge of climate change

Exploiting data in engineering to mitigate climate change2

Balancing resilience with environmental riskAs civil engineers we strive to understand and assess risksdirectly associated with the projects we work on, but areoften not as familiar with understanding the wider impact ata system level. The ability to balance resilience withenvironmental risk when estimating and specifying requiredamounts of materials has become critical. Overdesign of astructure is not a low risk activity when one considers theprovenance of construction materials and the environmentalimpacts associated with their manufacturing and use. This is abalance engineers need to understand to be able to makeeducated decisions. Time is short to reduce carbon emissions– as an industry we cannot neglect the impact of individualprojects on climate change.

Integrating ‘green’ and ‘grey’ infrastructureThe integration of natural ‘green infrastructure’ and humanbuilt ‘grey infrastructure’ is of increased importance inmeeting the need for climate resilient solutions. Civilengineers need to be open to implementing a mix of the twowhen possible and appropriate rather than pursuing purelyasset-based solutions. Integrating green and greyinfrastructure can help meet the need for lower cost, moreresilient, and lower carbon outcomes.3,4

Raising the profile of carbon efficiency in design and constructionEngineers are well versed in project safety and the imperativeto protect lives; mitigating climate change to protect thefuture of humanity from environmental catastrophe shouldalso be embedded at this fundamental level. In the UK,government policy brings some focus through theConstruction Strategy5, which has, as one of its goals, anambition to reduce the whole-life carbon of construction by50 per cent by 2025. Using data to understand sustainabilityand carbon efficiency across the entire life cycle of a projectfrom the beginning of the design stage will establishmitigation of climate change as an essential aspect of design and construction to be considered alongside health and safety.

Valuing multi-disciplinary perspectivesThe civil engineering community must broaden itsunderstanding and increase its impact by reaching out todifferent disciplines within the engineering sector and topractitioners from different sectors – chemists and biologists,economists and social scientists – to work collaboratively tocreate new solutions. Debate and open discussion wheremultidisciplinary perspectives are heard brings a diversity ofskills to address challenges and foster innovation.

Bringing focus to embodied carbonGood progress has been made on reducing operationalcarbon but the issue of embodied carbon requires attentionand action. Building infrastructure for fast-growing cities indeveloping countries could release 226 gigatonnes (Gt) ofCO2 by 2050 – more than four times the amount used tobuild existing developed-world infrastructure6. Steel andcement alone account for at least eight per cent of the globalCO2 emissions and with growing economies in China andIndia the need for new steel and new concrete will continueto rise unless we act now – the UN Global Status Report7

suggests 230bn m2 new floor construction between now and2040. Until we can reformulate the way cement and steel aremanufactured these materials will remain carbon intensive.There are new or different composites available withpotentially lower embodied carbon but these may also resultin a shorter asset life. A whole-life approach must be taken tounderstand the impact of embodied carbon in order to makeinformed choices on material selection and quantities.

Resource-efficiency needs to be at the forefront of design and construction. Engineering and construction organisationsmust become versed in basic material and carbon analysis,and be prepared to ask questions that will uncover newknowledge and a greater depth of understanding. It is timefor engineers to be proficient in basic material and carbonanalysis and equipped with tools – data, metrics, andheuristics – to fully understand the impact of materialsspecified, engage in resource efficient design, and avoidwaste in construction.

Balancing the demand for short-term cost reductionsversus carbon reduction The criteria by which projects are measured determinesoutcomes. When the key criterion is lowest cost, that measurewill drive decisions and outcomes and strip projects ofinnovation. Traditional transactional contractingarrangements resulting in low profit margins make carbon-reducing innovation less feasible. Moving away fromdelivering projects in a transactional manner to newapproaches, such as those outlined by Project 138, facilitatessolutions that take carbon reduction into account. Again, awhole-life approach must be taken in order to identify costsof design innovations at the capital expenditure stage whichcan be more than made up for through cost saving at theoperational phase.

Key factors for change

Smart sustainability 3

Data can enable better design, more efficient use ofresources, reduction in waste, time and cost savings,improved safety and increased infrastructure resilience –all critical factors in reducing carbon emissions from ourbuilt environment. The significant reduction in cost ofstoring, processing and transmitting data in recent yearsis driving digital transformation across all industries. Todate the focus has been on the potential of big data todrive efficiency and profitability of infrastructure andconstruction. However, there is huge potential for newdata and analytics to contribute towards thedecarbonisation of the civil engineering sector, andenhance the resilience of infrastructure and the builtenvironment to the impacts of climate change.

Data to optimise performance of new and existing assetsUnlocking the full benefits of data as an engineering toolrequires us to identify what information we need from thedata we collect, curate it accordingly and make it accessiblefor future reference. This requires engineers to design for thewhole life of an asset, understanding its intended use andcollaborating with asset managers at the beginning of theproject to anticipate information requirements. This in turnenables a whole-life, value-based decision-making process forasset management, a move to risk-based maintenance, andthe futureproofing of our assets in relation to potentialimpacts of climate change9.

Data-driven smart infrastructure solutions applied to existingassets enable owners and operators to get more out of whatthey already have – increasing capacity, efficiency, reliabilityand resilience – and reducing the need for new builds andassociated carbon emissions. Using data as an engineeringtool will lead to better-informed, sustainably-groundeddecisions to reduce resource use and ensure our assetsfunction long into the future.

Scaling up to an ‘urban observatory’ Building on the asset scale to take a systems approach allowsscale-up to create an ’urban observatory’10 where a variety ofdata is collected from sensors across an urban area to monitora range of connected factors including air quality, transportflows, water and energy demand. These real-timeobservations provide long-term understandings that can berelated to actions, activities and behaviours across all aspectsof a city, from the performance of individual buildings orinfrastructures to a ‘system of systems’ understanding.

The embedded sensor network can be enhanced with otheravailable data – weather radar, air quality measurements,geotagged social media data, as well as data from the naturalworld. For example, researchers in Newcastle11 are integratingthis wealth of information with flood models enablingpredictive simulation, based on real-time analysis andobservation of traffic flows, flood impacts and hazards, tooffer a better understanding of patterns of disruption througha city as a result of bad weather. This in turn will facilitate bothstrategic operations and tactical decisions at the city scaleduring extreme climatic events while providing informationthat informs the bigger, global picture of long-term, systemicdrivers of greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts ofclimate change, for example, how changes in urbandevelopment and form alter the urban heat island.

Data as an engineering tool to mitigate climate change

Exploiting data in engineering to mitigate climate change4

Criticality and resilience of infrastructure is increasinglyrelevant to risk analysis in the insurance industry. Theindustry has historically referred to past events as part of the process of assessing future risk. This model isbecoming less relevant as the frequency of extreme climaticevents increases. Currently, the insurance industry lacks areliable basis to make better risk assessments. There is apressing need for new parameters for assessing risk toensure that financial risk can be managed and insurers cancontinue to deliver insurance contracts on assetsthreatened by these types of events.

While climate change is a global concern, its effects are notuniform across the world. Local data and local context isessential to risk assessment and investment organisations.Understanding the response of infrastructure throughmonitoring and data analysis enables informed assessmentand management of future risk. Better information systemsfocused on the whole life of infrastructure are needed tomake better assessments of economic consequencesresulting from climatic events. Data will deliver information tocatalyse innovation in the insurance industry, to assess andunderwrite assets that it cannot currently cover.

A better understanding of physical climate risk is alsoincreasingly important to the financial sector. For example,through initiatives like the Federation of Small Businesses(FSB) Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures(TCFD)12, the finance sector is pursuing information about thephysical location and condition of assets and potentialchanges resulting from climate extremes.

Data to address criticality and resilience ofinfrastructure and manage economic risks

Smart sustainability 5

Only by connecting data from different organisations can we understand system level opportunities and outcomes.

The UK’s National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) 2017report ‘Data for the public good’13 calls for a nationalframework to enable data to be shared securely between andwithin infrastructure sectors, enabling benefits ofcoordination and collaboration across the network ofoperators, regulators and users to be secured. ‘The GeminiPrinciples’14 paper, published by the Centre for Digital BuiltBritain (CDBB) in 2018, addresses key recommendations fromthe NIC report. A national information managementframework for the built environment is recommended to helpovercome barriers to the uptake of smart infrastructuresolutions emerging from poor curation of data within andbetween organisations. This was also a recommendation ofthe infrastructure chapter of the Committee on ClimateChange ‘UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2017 EvidenceReport’15. This will be delivered through DAFNI16 (Data &Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure), which willbecome the National Platform to satisfy the computationalneeds in support of data analysis, infrastructure research andstrategic thinking for the UK’s long-term planning andinvestment needs

Using data holisticallyData exists in a variety of different categories, the importanceor value of which depends on the user. Engineers focus onasset performance data. Economists pursue usage: whatservices the infrastructure is delivering, willingness to pay andwider economic benefits of infrastructure provision. Thefinance sector is interested in costs, bankability, risks anddelivery timescales. These different categories of data tend toexist in separate silos.

How can these perspectives be brought together? Asengineers we need to understand the evidence needs ofeach sector. Working collaboratively to secure the right dataand communicate information across disciplines and sectorswill broaden approaches to planning, delivery andmanagement of infrastructure and construction in a moreholistic and sustainable way.

A national framework for data

Exploiting data in engineering to mitigate climate change6

The developed world has invested in infrastructure andgained societal, industrial and economic benefits at acost to the wider global environment. If all urbandevelopment to 2050 were to replicate the sametraditional approach to infrastructure delivery, then theworld would use about 35-60 per cent of the carbonbudget available to limit global warming to 2°C 17 –business as usual is clearly not an option. We needsustainable solutions for countries requiring new orimproved infrastructure to meet their economic,industrial and societal goals. Of course, these sustainable solutions must also be applied to thedeveloped world and transforming an existing systemcan be much more challenging.

Data for informed investment in infrastructureThe report by the Infrastructure Transitions ResearchConsortium (ITRC) and UNOPS, ‘Infrastructure, UnderpinningSustainable Development’,18 highlights the central role ofinfrastructure in achieving the UN’s Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) and in underpinning sustainable development.Organisations that fund projects in countries where there is alegacy of underinvestment in infrastructure and relativeimmaturity in terms of capacity consider an infrastructureproject more viable for investment when it strengthenscapacity, among other factors.

Projects focused on achieving the UN’s SDGs often face acutechallenges of population growth, urbanisation, short politicalcycles and long-term funding. The goal is to provide benefitsof investment in perpetuity. This requires a systems approachto working with local governments to plan, deliver andmanage infrastructure throughout its life cycle. This in turnneeds infrastructure data to inform decisions on investments– data which is often lacking, making planning difficult andinvestment decisions harder to justify. Data is key to achievingthe goal of informed investment in appropriate andsustainable projects.

Data to enable a whole-life perspective of infrastructurein the developing worldEffective organisations that work in the developing worldrecognise the imperative of a whole-life perspective andsystems approach to planning, delivering and managinginfrastructure. Understanding where a country wants to be infuture decades enables an organisation to consider risks andhazards, anticipate demand and develop capacity. Oncedemand is established it is possible to leapfrog technologiesfrom the developed world to plan for a resilient future in anuncertain climate. Using an evidence-based approach toplanning infrastructure can support governments to collectthe right data and analyse it to make better informeddecisions for future infrastructure investment.

Due to limitations associated with political cycles, manyengineering projects are driven by pressure to deliver in shorttime frames, on tight budgets requiring solutions focused oncost reduction at the expense of carbon mitigation measures.However, if we can present decision makers with the rightevidence, presented in a form that addresses their needs andmakes clear the links to wider policy goals, they are equippedwith a fuller picture to determine the most sustainable andappropriate infrastructure solutions for the local context.

The role of data as an engineering tool indeveloping countries

Smart sustainability 7

Meeting the challenge of climate change requires cross-sector multidisciplinary engagement, collaboration andaction. It needs debate and open discussion wheredifferent perspectives are heard, and engagement of adiversity of skills to overcome barriers and fosterinnovative solutions.

Leadership is needed from the civil engineering communityto engage effectively with policy makers and government,and to demonstrate the value of civil engineering knowledgeand expertise, underpinned by data and insight to meet thechallenges ahead. This requires us to be proactive andstrategic in a number of ways:

1) Raise our voicesCivil engineers need to engage in the climate change debateat the top table, promoting the urgency of the challenge, andcontributing to the policies developed to address it. We needto highlight the importance of carbon reduction to clients,including government policy and decision makers, andensure carbon reduction and contribution towards SDGs are used as a criteria in project assessment and delivery. We are aware that we also need ‘smart clients’ who look forsustainable solutions at the outset before moving into thedelivery phase.

2) Engage through enquiryEnquiry should always be at the heart of engineering.Engineers must endeavour to communicate and debate withtechnical specialists in other fields in order to understand thebroader perspectives of infrastructure projects, and developsystems-thinking approaches.

3) Get the basics rightWe should use simple tools and ‘rules of thumb’ to begin toincrease our understanding of how much resource we areusing in our construction designs and delivery, and share thistransparently. We must reduce (and ultimately eliminate)waste through better process controls and management. We should also think carefully about whether newconstruction is actually required or whether we can findsolutions using existing built assets in order to minimise our use of scarce resources.

4) Use data to calibrate models and inform decision-makingWe urgently need to limit carbon emissions and reduce useof limited precious resources in our civil engineering projects.This means using monitoring data, including real-time data,to measure the actual performance of our structures, howthey are used, and how they interact with the wider

environment over the short and long term, in order tocalibrate our engineering models and ultimately change our design codes and guidance to be more efficient inmaterials use.

5) Understand risk from a broader perspectiveEngineers need to think beyond the immediate structuraldecision making to consider wider impact at a systems level.This means considering longer-term impacts of designdecisions, both from a project perspective and more broadly,including the impacts of carbon emissions and potentialtrade-offs between these19.

6) Gather data to inform investment in infrastructureAs engineers, we play a vital role in understanding what datais needed to inform decisions around infrastructureinvestments, and to help gather it – whether this is frommetering, demand assessment or structural healthmonitoring of the existing asset base. We need to lead theway in curating, managing and using the data we generate to ensure that it can be used to inform futuredecision-making.

7) Present the data that is needed, in the required format We must learn to understand what information otherdecision-makers need, and to present it in a way that helpsthem in their role. This requires us to engage pro-actively with colleagues from other sectors and disciplines, andunderstand how our insights can help them, and vica versa.It also requires us to consider the ethics and securityimplications of gathering the data we use.

8) Train engineers to be data literate Data literacy should be a key part of training for newengineers and continuing professional development forexisting engineers. Consideration should be given todata/data analytics being a key competency in chartership,part of accredited degree programmes, and part of civilengineering CPD programmes. We should encourage andsupport improved development of data skills in schools.

Time is running out. Each and every engineer can make a difference – but we need to speak up, use data and act now.

Time is short – we must act now

Exploiting data in engineering to mitigate climate change8

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2. IPCC, 2018: Summary for Policymakers. In: Global warmingof 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of globalwarming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and relatedglobal greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context ofstrengthening the global response to the threat of climatechange, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicatepoverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., Zhai, P., Pörtner, H. O., Roberts,D., Skea, J., Shukla, P. R., Pirani, A., Moufouma-Okia, W., Péan, C.,Pidcock, R., Connors, S., Matthews, J. B. R., Chen, Y., Zhou, X.,Gomis, M. I., Lonnoy, E., Maycock, T., Tignor, M., Waterfield T.(eds.)]. World Meteorological Organization, Geneva,Switzerland, 32 pp.

3. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEnvironment), Sustainable Healthy Cities Network, UnitedNations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO),United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS),Environmental Change Institute (ECI), InfrastructureTransitions Research Consortium (ITRC-Mistral), Policy Brief:Mainstreaming biodiversity in the infrastructure sector:Fostering system-level approaches, Katowice Climate ChangeConference, COP 24/CMP 14/CMA 1.3 (2-14 December 2018).

4. Browder, G., Ozment, S., Rehberger Bescos, I., Gartner, T.,Lange, G. (2019). Integrating Green and Gray : Creating NextGeneration Infrastructure. Washington, DC: World Bank andWorld Resources Institute. © World Bank and World ResourcesInstitute. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/31430 License: CC BY 4.0.

5. UK Infrastructure Projects Authority , GovernmentConstruction Strategy 2016-2020, March 2016.

6. Bai X., Dawson R., Ürge-Vorsatz D., Delgado G., Barau A.,Dhakal S., Dodman D., Leonardsen L., Masson-Delmotte V.,Roberts D., Schultz S., (2018) Six research priorities for citiesand climate change, Nature, 555, 23-25. (doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-02409-z).

7. UN Environment and International Energy Agency (2017):Towards a zero-emission, efficient, and resilient buildings andconstruction sector. Global Status Report 2017.

8. Institution of Civil Engineers (2018), PP13 Blueprint, May 2018.

9. Smart Infrastructure, getting more from strategic assets.www-smartinfrastructure.eng.cam.ac.uk/files/the-smart-infrastructure-paper

10. Newcastle Urban Observatory,www.urbanobservatory.ac.uk

11. CityCAT: Urban flood model, Centre for Earth SystemsEngineering Research, Newcastle Universitywww.ncl.ac.uk/ceser/research/integrated-systems/cities/citycat

12. Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Task Force onClimate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), www.fsb-tcfd.org

13. National Infrastructure Commission (2017), ‘Data for thepublic good’, December 2017.

14. Centre for Digital Built Britain, Digital Framework TaskGroup (2018), Gemini Principles, 2018.

15. Dawson, R.J., Thompson, D., Johns, D., Gosling, S.,Chapman, L., Darch, G., Watson, G., Powrie, W., Bell, S., Paulson, K., Hughes, P., and Wood, R. (2016) UK ClimateChange Risk Assessment Evidence Report: Chapter 4,Infrastructure. Report prepared for the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change, London.

16. Data & Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure (DAFNI)www.dafni.ac.uk

17. Müeller, D. B., Liu, G., Løvik, A. N., Modaresi, R., Pauliuk, S.,Steinhoff, F. S., and Brattebø, H. (2013) Carbon Emissions ofInfrastructure Development. Environ. Sci. Technol. 47, 11739–11746.

18. Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium (ITRC) andUNOPS, ‘Infrastructure, Underpinning SustainableDevelopment’, October 2018 .

19. Caparros-Midwood, D., Dawson, R. J., Barr, S. (2019) LowCarbon, Low Risk, Low Density: Resolving choices aboutsustainable development in cities, Cities, 89: 252-267 (doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2019.02.018).

References

Smart sustainability 9

Exploiting data in engineering to

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