| Sustainability is a common goal of consumers, companies, and politics. But what exactly is "sustainability"? How can it be measured and managed? How can you as an engineer influence sustainability, and how will your job be influenced by it? |
To address these questions, this course introduces the concept of sustainable development, explains the interactions between civil engineering and sustainability, and discusses aspects of civil engineering influenced by sustainability such as design requirements, mandatory corporate reporting, or green building certification.
As sustainability can only be managed when it is properly measured, ways to quantify sustainability at the level of nations, companies, and products will be explained. In particular, the method of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will be introduced and its relevance for the design process, public tenders and upcoming national and international legislation. You will apply LCA in a self-selected case study and see how your design decisions directly influence the environmental performance of your product. To put the individual LCA results into a global perspective, you will learn how to break down global sustainability thresholds (planetary boundaries) into practical engineering and corporate goals (science-based targets). Finally, the increasing trend of carbon neutrality pledges made in politics and by companies and the role civil engineering can play in global decarbonisation will be discussed.
Why this course: Within this course, the participants will obtain the following knowledge and develop skills such as:
- Definition of sustainability and resilience, and recognition of their interaction with civil engineering.
- Explanation of the role of sustainability in civil engineering design requirements, (mandatory) corporate reporting, or building certification schemes.
- Description of how different aspects of sustainability can be measured at the level of nations (e.g. UN Sustainable Development Goals), companies (e.g. Environmental Management Systems), or products (e.g. Carbon Footprint).
- Description of the method of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF).
- Discussion of LCA’s relevance in civil engineering, including the design process, public tenders, and upcoming legislation.
- Translation of global sustainability limits (planetary boundaries) into practical engineering and corporate goals (science-based targets).
- Reflection on carbon neutrality targets and claims currently made in politics and by companies.
- Application of LCA in a self-defined case study to evaluate the environmental consequences of engineering decisions.
Course highlights: Life Cycle Assessment is increasingly implemented in current and upcoming legislation, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), or the Construction Products Regulation (CPR). This course introduces the underlying method of LCA and the European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and illustrates it in practical examples from industry and policy. Participants will also learn how to conduct LCAs using state-of-the art software and databases.
For whom: Professionals, but this course is suitable for beginners in this field.
From whom: prof.dr.ir. Markus Berger
Practical information: This is a regular master course, in which students as well as professionals can participate. The classes and tutorials can be followed online. Within the classes, small assignments to apply the knowledge are included. An assignment comprising a LCA study including presentation is part of the assessment.
Literature: Background and basic information can be found in:
- Life Cycle Assessment: Theory and Practice, Michael Z Hauschild; Ralph K Rosenbaum; Stig Irving Olsen (Eds), Springer 2018. ISBN 978-3-319-56475-3
- McLaren, D. P., & Carver, L. (2023). Disentangling the “net” from the “offset”: Learning for net-zero climate policy from an analysis of “no-net-loss” in biodiversity. Frontiers in Climate, 5. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2023.1197608
- Rosalie Arendt, Till M. Bachmann, Masaharu Motoshita, Vanessa Bach, and Matthias Finkbeiner. 2020. "Comparison of Different Monetization Methods in LCA: A Review" Sustainability 12, no. 24: 10493.
Location: The course will take place at the University of Twente, Enschede, NL. Online participation is possible.
Duration: The course is scheduled annually from September till November. It requires 140 hours of study.
Costs: € 2067,15
More information:
Content of the course: prof.dr.ir. Markus Berger, m.berger@utwente.nl
Registration: Registration form | Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET)