March 4th 2020 marks the very first World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development as a UNESCO international day of celebration of engineers and engineering. This is an opportunity to acknowledge the important contributions of engineers and engineering to sustainable development and modern life. It is also a day to increase the profile of the engineering profession and how engineers engage on a daily basis to make positive contributions across the globe.
Sustainability is one of the core values at TOBIN, and to us it means a lot more than words on paper. It influences the way we do business, from the design choices we make at project level, to who we want to work with and right down to the way that we run our offices, get to work, and drink our coffee.
World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development highlights the critical work required to achieve the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals ensuring that everyone has access to clean water, wastewater treatment and reliable energy as well as finding ways to deal with climate change, biodiversity loss, increasing populations and evolving technology. TOBIN is committed to the objectives of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and has adopted the One Planet Living® Principles, which mirror the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in our integrated management systems. The projects we work on every day have the potential to deliver on innovative and sustainable development, and we actively engage with our project partners to embed sustainable design principles in our decision making. This extends to working with clients on building climate resilience and adapting to a changing climate. In the running of our business, this means employee carbon tracking, reducing single use plastics, minimal printing and many more steps to reduce our impact on the environment.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals do not solely focus on our response to the built and natural environment – they focus on people and inclusion, something that has been at the heart of TOBIN’s Guiding Principles since its beginning in 1952.
Engineers Ireland will launch World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development in Ireland and the Engineering 2020 report on Wednesday, 4th March at Clyde Road, Ballsbridge. The launch will be led by a former Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations, and will include speakers from Intel, NASA, TU Dublin and NUI Galway.
We acknowledge there is still work to do but we are proud of what we have achieved so far. On this World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, we are hopeful that we can build on what we have achieved to date – Tús maith leath na hoibre.
