Climate Change
Since 1880, ASME has taken on society’s biggest and most technical challenges. Today, humanity is facing one of its largest challenges ever: climate change.
The Challenge
ASME exists to leverage the power of engineering to benefit humanity, and has a long and proud history of convening leaders of all kinds to take on society’s biggest and most technical challenges—from boiler safety, to nuclear fission and the space race. Today, humanity is facing one of its largest challenges ever: climate change.
The scale and complexity of this challenge are unprecedented. A changing climate threatens the stability and sustainability of economies, ecosystems, and communities globally, and it claims a role in nearly every problem engineers set out to solve.
The Solution
Engineers have both an opportunity and the responsibility to support and lead in global action mitigating climate change. They possess the tools and training critical to generating, implementing, and advancing climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience technologies and strategies.
ASME actively prepares the engineering world to play its part in addressing these urgent challenges. Occupying a unique position as a global standards developer, educator, and influencer across sectors, industries, and borders, ASME facilitates the enabling environment for consensus-building around technical, science-based climate solutions.
How ASME is addressing climate change
ASME leverages its leadership in innovation and technology, workforce development, and policy to catalyze urgent climate outcomes.
ASME’s climate imperatives:
- Supporting the global consensus of climate science and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s target, currently limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels
- Enabling engineers in accelerating the drive towards net-zero emissions and a carbon negative future
- Facilitating communication on climate policy among government, industry, and academia–leveraging ASME’s successful history of providing nonpartisan expertise to policymakers
- Developing and engaging the international engineering workforce that meets our present and future climate challenges
- Aligning ASME’s sustainability and climate strategy to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
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Explore ASME's Sustainability Programs
ASME ISHOW is open to individuals and organizations taking physical products to market that will have a positive social and environmental impact. Learn More
Idea Lab addresses critical components of the pre-prototype design process through a customized learning and mentorship program focused on technology development and instilling sustainable design practices from the very start. Learn More
Engineering for Change’s mission is to prepare, educate, and activate the international technical workforce to improve the quality of life of people and the planet. Learn More
ASME Climate Media
On Thursday, March 28, during Climate Career Week, ASME and E4C partnered with Climate Draft in arranging a global panel of mechanical engineers at climate tech startups. Moderated by Twish Mehta of Loblaw Companies, a founding member of ASME’s Committee on Sustainability, the panel covers the different career pathways available within climate and opportunities for engineers to apply their skill sets.
Committee on Sustainability
- The ASME Committee on Sustainability (CoS) is responsible for ensuring that the Society has a robust climate and sustainability strategy informed by evidence and supported by qualified leadership—empowering and mobilizing ASME to accelerate its response to climate change.
- The CoS’s 11 voting members, appointed by the ASME Board of Governors (BoG), assist in development of ASME’s impact reporting and pilot evaluation frameworks, collaborate with and empower ASME sectors and volunteer leaders, and provide other insights and data-driven recommendations to the BoG.
Hydrogen for the Green Economy Steering Committee
- ASME formed a Hydrogen for the Green Economy Steering Committee to identify industry needs and propose products and services to address those needs through cross-Society recommendations.
- Developing a Guidelines and Gap Analysis of ASME Standards in Hydrogen Value Chains document to provide:
- roadmap of the hydrogen landscape and the audience that the products are addressing, usability, and confusion for hydrogen applications
- gap analysis to identify deficiencies in the current standards, or topics that should be considered, based on the current industry practices and challenges.