About this book

The first edition of this book encouraged those working on infrastructure projects to recognise and embrace sustainability issues and to act as individual innovators and advocates for change. It was focused around all stages of project delivery and was intended to help identify where changes were necessary and possible. At the time of its publication, many organisations did not yet acknowledge sustainability or climate change as significant drivers of their activity. At that time, formal policies around areas such as carbon reduction, biodiversity loss and social value were in their infancy, if they existed at all.

The context for change is now entirely different, with most recognising the need to achieve sustainability and meet the many challenges it represents. Specifically, these range from addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals and responding to the need to meet net-zero carbon targets and tackle the climate emergency, to achieving biodiversity net gains in developments and delivering social value that meets a wider set of needs on all projects.