Transportation / Infrastructure

The WFEO Model Code of Practice on Principles of Climate Change Adaptation for Engineers was adopted at the December 2015 General Assembly.

The Model Code of Practice has been prepared as a complement to the WFEO Model Code of Ethics for Engineers and the Model Code of Practice for Sustainable Development and Environmental Stewardship.

The Model Code of Practice is provided as guidance to engineers to consider the implications of climate change in their professional practice and that they create a clear record of the outcomes of those considerations. It consists of nice principles that constitute the scope of professional practice for engineers to initiate climate change adaptation actions, particularly for civil infrastructure and buildings.

The principles are summarized into three categories:

1. Professional Judgment
2. Integrating Climate Information
3. Practice Guidance

Along nearly 13,000 miles of coastline of the contiguous United States, hundreds of thousands of buildings lie in the path of rising seas: schools, hospitals, churches, factories, homes, and businesses. As sea levels rise, persistent high-tide flooding of homes, yards, roads, and business districts will begin to render properties effectively unlivable, and neighborhoods—even whole communities— nancially unattractive and potentially unviable.

A new federal infrastructure package presents a critical opportunity to strengthen America’s infrastructure against the growing risks posed by extreme weather and other impacts of climate change. Enhancing the climate resilience of the nation’s infrastructure can substantially reduce future losses, benefiting public health, safety, quality of life, and prosperity. This policy brief outlines the benefits of climate-resilient infrastructure and criteria that should inform infrastructure planning and investment to enhance climate resilience. It identifies the types of infrastructure projects that can promote resilience while simultaneously achieving other climate and energy goals and recommends changes to existing federal policies and programs to ensure ongoing improvement to the climate resilience of America’s infrastructure.