Zaqout, Mariam;
Martins, Flavio;
Koch, Marta;
Hansford, Mark;
Parikh, Priti;
(2025)
Engineering knowledge: the Institution of Civil Engineers and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering
10.1680/jcien.25.00004.
(In press).
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Abstract
Infrastructure systems have the potential to benefit all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In order to understand the role of civil engineers to contribute to the SDGs, the synergies and trade-offs between civil engineering projects, the 17 SDGs and their 169 targets were identified. Using a structured literature review of research published in key Institution of Civil Engineers journals, the priority targets for the SDGs that civil engineering is best placed to provide a contribution were identified. The highest synergies were noted in the sector of transport (Target 11.6), which highlights the need for a standalone transport goal for future SDGs beyond 2030. Across the transport, energy, water and waste management infrastructure, SDG 11 (Sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production) were found to have the highest synergies, but more work needs to be done to address the increasing uncertainty and threats of climate change (SDG 13). Finally, the civil engineering community needs to recognise the trade-offs between infrastructure projects with socio-economic SDG targets relating to health, education, gender equality and poverty reduction, which is best done by embedding the SDGs in projects from planning rather than at design or implementation stages.
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