The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has signed a collaboration agreement with the International engineering federation FIDIC (the International Federation of Consulting Engineers) to work together to accelerate the transition to sustainable infrastructure. 

FIDIC is the global representative body for national associations of consulting engineers and represents over one million engineering professionals and 40,000 firms in more than 100 countries worldwide. The buildings and infrastructure sector in which FIDIC members work contributes around USD $36 trillion to global GDP.  

The two-year memorandum of understanding will see FIDIC and WBCSD working together to support their respective organizations’ ambitions around sustainable infrastructure planning, design, development and delivery, including speaking at events and exploring potential research opportunities. As a first step in this collaboration effort, Diane Holdorf, Executive Vice President of WBSCD, will be a keynote speaker at the FIDIC Global Leadership Forum Summit in Geneva in late April.  

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Commenting on the agreement, FIDIC Chief Executive Dr Nelson Ogunshakin said: “I am delighted that FIDIC has signed this important agreement with World Business Council for Sustainable Development and that our two organizations will be working closely together to promote a more sustainable approach to infrastructure.  

“I am also excited that FIDIC and WBCSD will be collaborating in a range of areas, including speaking at each other’s conferences and events, looking at opportunities to collaborate on research projects, exploring funding and partnership opportunities to address the challenges of climate mitigation, adaptation and nature-based solutions and working with relevant FIDIC committees and our Global Leadership Forum on addressing these crucial issues for our industry. 

Reacting to the signing of the agreement with FIDIC, WBCSD Executive Vice President Diane Holdorf, said: “We look forward to collaborating with FIDIC on the critical challenges we face in transforming our built environment to one that is more people-centric, regenerative and fully decarbonized. Together, our two organizations can mobilize a strong business response and align all actors to work collectively toward our vision of a world in which nine billion people are living well, within planetary boundaries, by mid-century.”