EngineeringUK puts spotlight on sustainability this Earth Day
Published: 19 April, 2023
To celebrate Earth Day 2023 (22 April), EngineeringUK has published a webinar exploring how environmental sustainability can inspire young people into engineering and technology careers.
Hosted on the Tomorrow’s Engineers website, the webinar is designed to support anyone designing and delivering STEM engagement activities for young people of secondary school age. Led by EngineeringUK’s Head of Environmental Sustainability, Mike Hardisty, it showcases why and how environmental sustainability can be used to inspire more young people to consider a career in engineering.
Hardisty explains, “Research shows that young people care about the environment, and many even suffer from ‘eco-anxiety’. At the same time young people often aren’t aware of the connection between climate change and engineering solutions and, as a result, may be missing out on considering a career in engineering.
“Putting environmental sustainability at the heart of STEM engagement programmes and showcasing the central role engineers have in achieving net zero, has the potential to inspire more young people to pursue a career in the sector. We encourage the engineering community to check out the guidance and careers resources we have developed to support them with their outreach activities and to inform young people about green careers.”
In addition to its work to inspire young people about the potential of engineering and tech careers to address climate change, EngineeringUK is also sharing information about its own environmental sustainability commitments this week. This includes publishing its Environmental Sustainability Policy - which details its commitment to measuring, reporting and reducing all environmental impacts.
The net zero commitment will also be published, which includes carbon targets of:
• Reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 75%, over the period 2019 to 2030
• Reduce Scope 3 emissions by at least 40%, over the period 2019 to 2030
• Reduce all emissions by at least 90%, over the period 2019 to 2040
Hardisty comments “As we’re just a small charity our modest efforts, in isolation, might not appear to be that significant. However, a recent report estimated that UK SMEs were responsible for about 35% of the UK’s carbon footprint. It is therefore crucial that UK SMEs take action to reduce their emissions and we hope by sharing our sustainability journey and commitments this week it will encourage others to make this a priority in their own organisation.”
Watch the webinar ‘Environmental sustainability: using it to inspire young people into engineering and technology’.
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