FIDIC has relaunched its Sustainable Development Committee as part of a significant strengthening and upgrading of its committee structure and international external affairs and stakeholder relations capability.

The revamped committee will improve the effectiveness of FIDIC’s work in assessing the impact of the construction industry on sustainability issues and advising the consulting engineering industry on how to develop strategies, tools and training to maximise its contribution to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The committee will also play a key role in promoting the positive contribution and impact of the industry on sustainable development and combating climate change.

Commenting on the relaunch of the committee, FIDIC chief executive Dr Nelson Ogunshakin said: “The relaunch of our Sustainable Development Committee is part of a detailed and thorough review of FIDIC’s public engagement work where we have sought to ensure that our committees and other representative bodies better reflect geographic diversification and have the right skills set to be more effective in a changing marketplace. Competition was stiff to sit on these revamped committees, with over 350 industry experts from around the world applying to be members.

“The newly relaunched Sustainable Development Committee, in common with a number of other revamped committees we will be announcing over the coming weeks, will enable FIDIC to be more external facing and help us to make a positive impact on and influence in the global infrastructure industry. Going forward, we plan to be more vocal and more visible to meet the challenges our industry faces as it moves out of the Covid crisis and beyond.”

The chair of the FIDIC Sustainable Development Committee is Tracey Ryan, managing director of Aurecon – New Zealand. Commenting on her new role, she said: “Environmental sustainability is one of the most important issues facing our planet so I’m really looking forward to starting work as the chair of this vital FIDIC committee and to collaborating and working closely with some amazingly talented people from across the world.  

“I believe that engineers play a vital role in helping our governments and communities tackle this complex challenge. A key aim of the committee will be to assess the potential impact of climate change and provide a meaningful forum for consulting engineers to share ideas on how they can enable mitigation, adaptation and resilience to climate change and develop and maintain buildings and infrastructure assets that are truly sustainable in the broadest possible way. The committee will also continue to promote FIDIC’s core principles of quality, integrity and sustainability and work towards better infrastructure while creating positive impact in all the communities where we work.”

The full membership of the committee is listed below: -

Tracey Ryan (chair)
Managing Director, Aurecon (New Zealand)
Natalie Muir (vice chair)
Manager - South East Queensland, Cardno (Australia)
Robert Spencer (vice chair)
Director, Sustainable Development, AECOM (UK)
Idriss Kathrada
Associate Director, Novasirhe (France)
Sudhir Dhawan
CEO, Aether Engineering Solutions (India)
Babak Banijamali
Deputy managing Director, Darya-Bandar Consulting Engineers (Iran)
Marina Markaryan
Chief Expert – Contracts, JSC AtomStroyExport (Russia)
Maria Rozpide
Director, Environmental Consultancy and Assessment, TYPSA Group (Spain)
Feng Tian
General Manager, Chelbi Engineering Consultants (China)
Anders Persson
Director of Public Affairs, Federation of Swedish Innovation Companies (Sweden)
Stéphanie Groen
Director, Coastal and Climate Change – Asia, Aurecon (Singapore)

The 11-strong committee, which will meet quarterly, will also monitor, advocate and guide best practice in sustainable development across the global engineering and construction industry and advise the FIDIC board on all aspects of sustainable development across the global infrastructure sector. It will also ensure that FIDIC maintains a key focus on the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as well as publishing tools and guides for the industry to practice sustainable development.