The Challenges Facing the Implementation of Sustainable and Green Engineering

Introduction

Background

In the last several decades, at the scholarly studies and government policy development levels, there has been a growing recognition of the necessity to integrate Sustainable Development (SD) concepts into the practices of the engineering industry. The phrase “Sustainable and Green Engineering (SGE)” in this context refers to the obligation of the engineering sector to achieve SD (Wong, 2016). For several years, SGE has been a hotly debated policy topic among government agencies and other non-governmental organisations with direct ties to the UK engineering sector (Reddy et al., 2019). As a result, several policies have been created to advise the industry’s players on adopting and using SGE. For instance, the UK government’s “Strategy for Sustainable Construction” was produced to recognize the necessity for the drastic adjustments required to achieve SGE (UK Government, 2008). In addition, many other policies, guidelines, and reports have been released on SGE by multiple industry-related establishments and different governmental departments to assist the engineering industry in attaining SGE goals (such as the HM Treasury (2019) report).

According to Opoku et al. (2015), among the factors influencing SGE in the UK are product standards, government policies, and UK and EU laws. The Joint Contracts Tribunal (2016) sector consultation found that the majority of participants agree that sector-specific documentation may enhance SGE performance. The sheer volume of documentation accessible, according to Lozano et al. (2018), is really a barrier to the implementation of SGE at the project level. In fact, as Reddy et al. (2019) note, “a rapidly moving environment, with continually changing laws, advice, and policies” is the foundation upon which SGE at the engineering project level is delivered in the UK. The fact that these guidelines were created using a random process and that multiple separate government ministries in the UK share responsibility for SGE policy only exacerbates the problem. The adoption and execution of policies at the project level are often perplexing and ineffective due to the lack of coordination between these many rules and laws (Díaz-López et al., 2021).

Despite the existence of various pertinent regulations, SGE has not yet been given a thorough, agreed definition. The CIB (2021) had undertaken a global investigation to examine how SGE was seen and perceived in various nations. The investigation showed that there are many different perspectives and understandings of SGE in developed, transitional, and developing nations. Esfahbodi et al. (2017) contend that the engineering sector must embrace a more comprehensive definition of SGE before moving forward with efforts to contribute to SD. Although there is a basic connection between the engineering sector and attempts to meet SD objectives, the necessary adjustments and advancements in industry practices are not occurring quickly enough (Reddy et al., 2019). Reviews of SGE activity in England have shown that just a tiny fraction of structures can make any kind of claim to being sustainable (CIB, 2021). Because of this, even if there are many regulations and guidelines available, their influence seems to be little. This may be due to a number of factors, including stakeholders’ poor understanding or misinterpretation of these rules and guidelines, a lack of integration with decision-making mechanisms, weak connections between policies and reality on the ground, and a small base of involvement.