Calling for Engineering Curricula that Address the Climate Emergency: A Brief Case Study of Civil Engineering Programs

This work highlights the need for accredited engineering curricula to integrate mandatory climate-related learning and proposes four high-level competencies for consideration. The work surveys ten accredited civil engineering programs in Canada as a case study. The survey result that accredited civil engineering programs provide little to no training toward climate competency underscores the need for greater attention to engineering curricula as a tool by which the engineering profession can begin playing an active role in addressing the climate emergency. Discussions touch on the implicit inclusion of climate competencies in other courses and how this implicit inclusion could become more explicit by looking to medical programs’ approach. Discussion also touch on potential challenges arising from inconsistent degree requirements in engineering programs and the engineering culture that centres objectivity.