Climate Change Position Statement FAQs

Engineers and Geoscientists BC expects individual and firm registrants to consider the impact of their professional practice on the climate (i.e., understand how their work may affect GHG emissions) and the impact of climate change on their professional practice (i.e., understand and address how climate change may affect their projects, products, designs, processes, or systems). This may look different depending on professional areas of practice. Some high-level examples are detailed in the "Expectations from Registrants" section of our position statement. Additional examples are provided in Engineers and Geoscientists BC's Professional Practice Guidelines – Sustainability and 2023-2024 Regulatory Learning Module, as well as Engineers Canada's guidelines on the Principles of climate adaptation and mitigation for engineers.

The position statement aims to clarify Engineers and Geoscientists BC's regulatory role and expectations of registrants in relation to climate change. It also serves as a vision guiding the development of Engineers and Geoscientists BC's Organizational Climate Change Strategy, which will elaborate on the programs and initiatives that the regulatory body is developing to support registrants in meeting the expectations.

In addition, the position statement serves as a resource for registrants to demonstrate to their employers and/or clients that considering climate change in their professional practice is part of their duty as a professional engineer or professional geoscientist. By embedding climate considerations into their professional practice, registrants can emphasize the necessity of climate action as an integral aspect of their responsibilities.

The majority of the observed increase in global average temperature over the past 150 years has been caused by the anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide, methane, and other GHGs. As of January 2025, the year 2024 was the hottest year on record by a clear margin (WMO), and this warming trend is expected to continue in the future. In the last decade, a growing number of extreme event attribution studies have assessed and quantified the influence of observed climate change on weather/climate events.

There is strong evidence that climate change impacts the public interest (e.g., health and well-being, infrastructure, systems) and the environment (e.g., water resources, ecosystems, biodiversity, air quality). In accordance with the PGA and Engineers and Geoscientists BC's Code of Ethics, the regulatory body is mandated to protect the public interest and the environment, including from climate change impacts.

Between 1948 and 2016, British Columbia observed 1.9 °C of warming (in mean annual temperature), as well as increases in daily minimum temperature, an important change driver. As a result, the province of BC has been experiencing the impacts of climate change as demonstrated by various extreme event attribution studies. These impacts included more frequent and severe flooding, wildfires, droughts, and extreme weather events such as the heat dome and the atmospheric river of 2021. Climate change also causes the acceleration of glacier area loss.

GHGs can be trapped in the Earth's atmosphere for many hundreds of years. So even if we all stopped emitting GHGs today, those already trapped in the Earth's atmosphere will continue to cause climate change and affect future generations. We must focus on both climate change mitigation and adaptation, as we know the climate is already changing and global average temperatures will continue to rise with increasingly severe impacts, even if we start reducing GHG emissions now.

In fact, adapting to climate change and reducing GHG emissions are not mutually exclusive. Many actions that address one will have an influence on the other. Engineers and Geoscientists BC's registrants are encouraged to strive for win-win solutions that will both increase resiliency to climate change hazards and reduce emissions that cause climate change. This approach is known as "low-carbon resilience."

‘Adaptation’ and ‘resilience’ are often used interchangeably, and while they are complementary concepts, there are important differences in these terms.

Adaptation is sometimes seen as being part of resilience. Resilience capacity is described as a combination of:

1. shock absorbing and coping;
2. evolving and adapting; and
3. transforming.

By this definition of resilience, coping is the first strategy for managing risk. However, when societies exceed their ability to cope, they should be able to adapt to the adverse changes they face. This is sometimes described as incremental adaptation, where solutions are centred on technological and managerial fixes that are responsive to a particular event or have a preventative effect. If the adaptative action is not adequate to overcome the disaster risk, societies will need to transform. While adaptation entails preserving existing structures and ways of being, transformation is often associated with large-scale, profound, and deep-rooted changes. This could be in how cities are structured and operate, for example, or where farms are located and the types of crops that they grow.

Adopting resilience thinking within climate adaptation projects and policies encourages a shift from short-term, incremental, project-focused, and reactive approaches towards long-term, transformative, holistic, and forward-looking planning. For example, flood adaptation strategies that are informed by resilience thinking encompass a range of actions for reducing risks (such as analyzing hazard probability, exposure, and vulnerability) before flood events occur, as well as enhancing preparation, response, and recovery capacities for when a flood occurs through various environmental, financial, social, and political mechanisms. Thus, adaptation and resilience are complementary when it comes to responding to the impacts of climate change.

For more information on climate change mitigation and adaptation, visit Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s Climate Change Information Portal.

Although the impacts of climate change affect everyone, equity-deserving groups are disproportionally impacted by climate change, exacerbating existing attitudinal, historic, social, and environmental inequities and injustices.

As a result of colonial marginalization forcing their communities into remote, climate-vulnerable areas, Indigenous Peoples can experience greater health risks from climate-related events (e.g., heatwaves, wildfires, and floods) and may experience disrupted access to traditional lands and practices.

People with disabilities can be at a greater risk of heat-related diseases and death, as intense heatwaves, floods, or wildfires and wildfire smoke can exacerbate physical and psychological symptoms and create barriers to accessing evacuation and emergency services.

2SLGBTQIA+ persons are often forced to leave their homes due to family conflicts, threats of abuse, or actual violence, which makes them experience higher rates of housing insecurity. Climate-related events place people who are housing-insecure at greater risk of exposure to climate hazards and can reduce housing availability in affected communities. 2SLGBTQIA+ people also often get refused the help and shelter meant to assist climate-impacted communities.

Adaptation strategies—such as cooling or evacuation centres—are often not designed to consider the needs of marginalized populations like women at risk of violence. Women may not go to these public spaces and risk endangering themselves and/or their children.

Many rural and remote communities have experienced changing access to, and quality of, food and water systems. These issues are linked to environmental changes such as rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and increasing incidents of extreme weather events. In addition, due to the remote and unique access to these communities, they face higher risk of being affected by climate impacts, such as when wildfires or flooding cause highway closures and evacuation.

While Indigenous Peoples are considered equity-deserving and share many issues in common with other equity-deserving groups (e.g., racism and sexism), their issues and rights are also distinct and separate from broader equity, diversity and inclusion efforts. This stems from the fact that Indigenous Peoples and their nations are the original occupants of these territories and have stewarded them since time immemorial, predating the establishment of the Dominion of Canada in 1867.

Indigenous Peoples, who comprise 5% of the global population, are widely recognized as being responsible for managing lands that hold a significant portion of the world’s biodiversity. In Canada, Indigenous Peoples have maintained a long-standing and intricate relationship and balance with respect to natural ecosystems, including implementing adaptive strategies to address environmental changes such as climate change. Indigenous Peoples have been observing ecological and climatological change for thousands of years and can provide valuable insights that can enhance current methodologies to address climate change (e.g., climate risk assessments).

In addition, under the BC Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), Indigenous Peoples exercise and have full enjoyment of their rights to self-determination and self-government. As such, when addressing climate change in their professional practice, registrants must consider Indigenous Peoples not only as an equity-deserving group but also as a level of government in Canada. In fact, reflecting on, and accounting for, the rights of Indigenous Peoples to maintain, control, protect, or develop Indigenous "cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions, and manifestations of sciences, technologies or cultures," is required under governmental legislation, including under Section 55.1 of the PGA.    

As such, registrants are encouraged to respectfully engage and collaborate with Indigenous Peoples to learn ways to integrate Indigenous knowledge and perspectives into climate action. To implement best practices that foster reciprocal, respectful, and collaborative relationships with Indigenous Peoples, registrants should familiarize themselves with Engineers Canada's 2023 Guideline on Indigenous Consultation and Engagement.

In their April 26, 2024 annual general meeting, the Council of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) requested its Practice Review Board inquire into the practice of the professions by professional members, licenses, permit holders, or certificate holders, with respect to evolving climate risk disclosure.

Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba (EGM) has a webpage dedicated to professional training and resources on climate change.

As the national voice of the engineering profession, Engineers Canada advocates to the federal government on climate change issues that affect the engineering profession. The organization has a national position statement on Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events.

Engineers Canada has published a public guideline for engineers on the principles of climate adaptation and mitigation. It is intended to set out general concepts and principles to inform engineering professionals on why adaptation and mitigation of climate change is relevant in professional practice. Engineers Canada also published a national guideline on sustainable development and environmental stewardship for engineers. In addition, Engineers Canada developed the Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) Protocol, a tool used for vulnerability assessments on infrastructure system. 

The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies in BC (ACEC-BC) has developed a climate change position paper to support members and their clients in understanding and managing the evolving standard of care with respect to climate resilience and adaptation. The paper addresses risks and mitigation strategies and supports members in communicating with their clients. In addition, ACEC-BC developed a guide to help consulting engineering companies and their clients integrate climate change considerations in project scope and procurement of consulting engineering services. The objective in developing this guide was to enhance long-term resilience and sustainability of infrastructure by ensuring that relevant climate factors are adequately considered and communicated with respect to the expected level of service of a project.

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has declared commitments and principles focused on addressing climate change within the architectural practice.

The Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) has taken actions to advance climate change-informed planning. It developed a Climate Change Policy for Planning which defines the role that planning has in meeting the complex challenges of climate change and calls planners to action to create communities that are resilient.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has a webpage calling for climate action, informing on the impacts of climate change on human health, and recognizing that Canada's health system is part of the problem.

In the U.S., the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) formally recognized in 2006 the importance of sustainability by adding a new professional obligation to the Society’s Code of Ethics. The new provision stated, "Engineers are encouraged to adhere to the principles of sustainable development in order to protect the environment for future generations." In February 2022, the NSPE Board of Directors endorsed "The Role of the Engineering Community in Addressing Climate Change." Prepared with input from a working group of 16 organizations including NSPE, the statement is intended to unite, energize, and motivate people within and across organizations, and to fulfill their desires for meaning and purpose in their professional lives. 

Engineers Australia recognized the scale and urgency of the challenges presented by climate change, the disruptions it causes, and the pivotal role of engineering in enabling a socially just transition to a sustainable society. As such, their work on climate change is guided by their position statement which supports rapid and wide-ranging action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero and adapt to climate change. It also recognizes that practical, innovative engineering will be essential to achieving these goals. They work closely with members and the wider profession to develop Engineers Australia’s climate policy platform and drive the public conversation forward. Engineers Australia also engages regularly with government and parliamentary inquiries on climate-related issues.