Organizational Climate Change Strategy

The development process included multiple phases of internal and external engagement between early 2024 and late 2025, culminating in the Board’s approval of strategy  in June 2025. Implementation of the Strategy will take place in stages throughout the next five years, with ongoing engagement, development of new tools and resources, and integration of climate‑related considerations into Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s regulatory functions.

Engineers and Geoscientists BC developed an Organizational Climate Change Strategy (the Strategy) to uphold its responsibility to support registrants in addressing changes to practice environments and other emerging issues, including those related to climate change. The Strategy builds upon the work from the Climate Change Action Plan, released in 2021, in alignment with our updated Position Statement, and provides high‑level direction to embed climate resilience, adaptation, and sustainability considerations across Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s regulatory programs, guidance materials, and professional practice expectations. Consisting of two overarching goals, each with three objectives, the regulatory body will advance the vision of the strategy: Safeguarding the public interest by enabling pathways for engineering and geoscience professions to advance a sustainable, equitable, and climate-resilient future.

Key Milestones

January 2024 – April 2025: Internal and external engagement conducted by Engineers and Geoscientists BC.

February 2025: Board Endorsement of Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s Position Paper on Climate Change.

May 2025: The Organizational Climate Change Strategy is drafted, outlining high‑level direction that will guide Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s climate action efforts.

June 2025: Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s Organizational Climate Change Strategy is approved by the board.

September 2025: The Organizational Climate Change Strategy and Position Paper are published to Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s website.

How We Engaged

• Two internal engagement sessions and a survey to gather all staff’s feedback on how to apply a climate lens to our work.
• Engagement with each department to identify potential gaps in our operations, policies and practices that could benefit from the application of a climate lens, and actions that could address those gaps.
• Pre-engagement activities with internal departments and the Climate Change & Sustainability Advisory Group (CCSAG) to gather additional insights before implementing the external engagement.
• Eight 1:1 interviews with key external partners, to gain insights from their own climate strategy development.
• Five virtual focus groups were held with registrants, including two focus groups specifically with representatives of registrant firms. These focus groups helped us gather feedback on several proposed initiatives.
• An intentions paper was released, and a survey was sent to registrants to gain additional feedback on the initiatives proposed in the paper.

What We Heard: Key Themes

During the consultation process, there were a number of diverse perspectives and thoughts shared throughout our various methods of engagement. There were 5 key themes that emerged from the discussions.

Capacity Building and Education

Continuing education is a key component of the regulatory mandate, helping build the capacity registrants need to understand the importance of climate action and apply it in their professional practice. Some areas of practice noted challenges in identifying effective ways to incorporate climate change and sustainability considerations into their work.

Concerns about Additional Requirements for Registrants

Registrants are facing capacity concerns, and adding additional regulatory requirements may overburden them and put undue pressure on resources. Flexibility and autonomy are essential, as well as education and training around why and how to be climate resilient rather than being overly prescriptive.

Competing Priorities

As projects tighten budgets and timelines, it becomes challenging to meaningfully incorporate climate change and sustainability initiatives. Incorporating climate action often requires extensive engagement and/or consultation, which can be time consuming and challenging to reconcile with the urgency of projects.

Showcasing Best Practices and Case Studies

Registrants are seeking more case studies that demonstrate how climate resilience and adaptation can be effectively integrated into engineering and geoscience practice. Real‑world examples of emerging approaches can help practitioners move beyond traditional methods and strengthen confidence in their decision‑making.

Challenges of Nature-based Solutions

Nature-based solutions have seen slow adoption due to a perceived lack of accurate and measurable performance data and indicators. The absence of standardized tools or methodologies for evaluating the benefits of nature-based solutions can hinder their uptake, and highlights the need for approaches that integrate environmental, social, and economic factors to more accurately capture the holistic value of nature-based solutions.

Together these themes reflect areas where Engineers and Geoscientists BC can deepen its leadership and support registrants in advancing climate action in all registrants' professional practice through the Organizational Climate Change Strategy.

What's Next 

• Implement the Organizational Climate Change Strategy into regulatory functions, aligned with PGA and Strategic Plan.
• Ongoing relationship-building and collaboration as the strategy is implemented.
• Initiate the development of a voluntary sustainability program for registrant firms, as one of the initiatives to implement the Strategy