Upholding sustainable and responsible acoustics

By Peter Rogers, FIOA, (Council approved oversight for implementation of net zero sustainability targets) and of Sustainable Acoustics

With rising interest at meetings I’ve attended by members into how acoustics can be applied to sustainability (or perhaps the other way around) this article aims to ‘break the ice’ for many members and provide timely first steps, or second ones for those already who have taken the plunge. It aims to also give some directions to act and tie down some specifics on sustainability and acoustics.

Below: ©UN.org

The IOA Code of Conduct was updated in circa 2016 to introduce the concept of sustainability, driven by the Engineering Council (1). This means that members of the Institute of Acoustics have a professional obligation to fulfil and maintain this concept. This may or may not be a surprise but what is important is that members should already be thinking about how to use acoustic knowledge and expertise in a manner that prioritises sustainability, human security of future generations and environmental preservation of the earth’s biosphere. The Code states:
‘A2.1 Members shall act in accordance with the principles of sustainability and not do anything, or permit anything to be done under their authority, of which the probable and involuntary consequences would, in their professional judgment
* endanger human life or safety; or
* expose valuable property to the risk of destruction or serious damage; or
* needlessly pollute the environment except when legally authorised to do so.’

The definition of sustainability, for anyone still needing to unpick it, can be found at the footnote below (2), but what this means is set out by the Engineering Council in a wallet-sized reminder card in six principles:

1. Contribute to building a sustainable society, present and future.

2. Apply judgement and take leadership role.

3. Do more than just comply with legislation and codes – be prepared to challenge the status quo.

4. Use resources efficiently and effectively.

5. Seek multiple views to solve sustainability challenges.

6. Manage risk to minimise adverse impact and maximise benefit to people and the environment.

Acousticians can use this as the framework to meet the expectations of the Code, but these are quite general, and oversight since has also moved things along. Adherence to these principles are ways members can uphold public trust in our profession and that we may demonstrate how we can play our part in the engineering challenges that tackling climate crisis presents and, also, to define how members can help humanity learn to live sustainably.

Right: Lindsay's wheel of acoustics © 1965 ASA

What members can do to act now
The duty on members is, of course, far broader than those examples listed in the Code. It is advisable for members to consider what the phrase ‘ act in accordance with the principles of sustainability ’ actually means to them in relation to acoustics. In my view, the six principles are a starting point but remain vague in terms of what needs to be done.

I would suggest a good place is to benchmark your ecological footprint, which falls into direct and indirect impacts (initially of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (3)). This will help you work out your route to net zero. I stress these are not requirements, but my thoughts on ways members could take first steps and evidence action in demonstrating efforts aligned with the Code. 

1. Quantify your direct ecological footprint, addressing the social and environmental impacts (positive and negative) of carrying out your professional life and define a route and timescale to achieve carbon net zero (generally by 2050 if not before).

2. Quantifying the indirect ecological footprint, addressing the negative and/or positive social and environmental impacts of the work that you do through organisations that you may have authority over (including regard for emissions of supply chains relied on – often referred to as ‘Scope 3 emissions’).

Once you have benchmarked (using one of the many online tools we’ll cover in a future article) you can set out a plan for how to reduce and minimise impacts (language we should be familiar with from noise policy). Once you have done this you should be well positioned to initially responsibly offset using the UN Climate Neutral Now initiative 4 the impact and pursue the final push to achieve a net zero status that you can justify.

Face the challenge
The challenge for members remains the diversity and generality of the acoustics world and the various disciples that populate the rim of R. Bruce Lindsay’s Wheel of Acoustics ©1965 (5). This covers a wide range of subject areas from medical to underwater, architectural to electroacoustics, or bioacoustics to music. To assist members in all areas of work to be better equipped to address the expectations of the Code of Conduct, in the context of their field of expertise. Focusing on how the influence as an acoustician can align with principles of sustainability without compromising that delivery is key.

The UN Sustainability Goals (6) set out 17 goals to assist, but acoustics and noise are not directly mentioned and are secondary factors which affect many of them. The process for members to consider is how your contribution may result in a harm or benefit in one of those areas, depending on the specific nature of your work at any time. It tends to be clearer once the use case is set out, so for instance, research into the acoustic monitoring of fish diversity can be applied to checking the health of a coral reef for example (SDG 14). It is the balance of the influence achieved that is the sum of your contribution to the principles of sustainability, which you could be aiming to objectively quantify. This could include qualitative assessments before quantitative refinements. Where you can demonstrate regenerative outcomes to your work this can be more easily claimed to have met the bar of expectation, with a greater degree of confidence.

IOA resources
Resources are now being made available to members, such as CPD videos that will be available in the members area of the IOA website, and the efforts of the Sustainable Design Task Force continue (having produced two guidance notes so far on material and personal security). The focus of that work is currently on embedding relevant strategic direction to the Institute, which must practice what it preaches.

It is also recognised that to better serve the members, tools and practical suggestions are needed to help the first steps be taken along the road. The plan is to therefore run a series of relevant articles in Acoustics Bulletin to signpost and increase awareness and with different emphasis on different fields, so watch this slot. If members have topics they would like to see covered please feed that back to me progers@sustainableacoustics.co.uk or the editor nickyr@warnersgroup.co.uk and we’ll seek out contributors, or, if you wish to share your progress as a member’s case study, do get in touch.

The immediate need
Looking ahead, the climate crisis rather emotively likened to the analogy of our house being on fire. Far from being our own ‘Gretta’ I am a pragmatist. There is an immediate need for acousticians to see how they can directly help put that fire out! Especially because time is now critical and actions focused on the next few years will have the greatest effect that those taken after this emergency phase. The analogy does, of course, continue for what happens afterwards, and whether the matches have been confiscated or not (i.e. tackling what caused the problem in the first place). This is the true challenge for acousticians in the medium- to long-term – how humanity can learn to live sustainably, and how acoustics can help prepare for that to become a reality.

If you don’t feel you can dive into the suggestions above and do a full audit yet then there are still things that you can do.

• Being conscious of what you are doing through your work to assist and what may be facilitating harm is a worthwhile ongoing inventory to keep updating.

• Triage the priorities of the areas that your expertise relates to and identify what will make a difference and what will not. For instance facilitating the renewable energy transition is perhaps an obvious way to do this (from heat pumps, solar, wind, hydrogen to cold fusion).

• Minimise embodied energy in materials and do more with less.

The reduction of environmental pollution and improving the environments in which we live is a more medium- to long-term challenge, as is reconnecting humans with nature, encouraging bio net gain and restoration of the earth’s life support systems on land, in our oceans and in the air. Members need to proactively identify what they can do in their particular area, remembering that a professional obligation does exist to use their knowledge and skills to spearhead sustainability commitments through their work and career.

With equal dedication to technical rigor through the lens of the sustainable design principles, members can elevate acoustics as a key driver of prosperity, meaning economic vitality, social equity, and ecological resilience and restoration in a modern and thriving world. More articles will be published soon on a variety of ways to help humanity in its hours of need and get going with creating a more sustainable world.

References
1 https://www.engc.org.uk/sustainability
2 https://www.un.org/sustainability#
3 https://ghgprotocol.org/scope-3-calculation-guidance-2
4 https://unfccc.int/climate-action/climate-neutral-now
5 https://exploresound.org/what-is-acoustics/fields-of-acoustics/
6 https://sdgs.un.org/goals