I am in the process of following the tortuous path to registration as MCIBSE and CEng via the technical report route. This requires a two-stage interview process: the competence review interview and the combined technical report/professional review interview.

CIBSE says the competence review can be held internationally in either Hong Kong, Australia, or the United Arab Emirates. However, the technical report can only be held in the UK. This means a member in the UAE (Dubai) attending their technical report interview flies 10,992km and is responsible for the emission of 1.2 tonnes of CO2. A member in Hong Kong flies 19,290km, emitting 2.1 tonnes of CO2, and a member in Australia (Sydney) flies 34,036km, emitting 3.7 tonnes of CO2.

We rightly celebrate the efforts of (for instance) Fulcrum Consulting in reducing its office CO2 emissions by 6.5 tonnes a year, yet all its efforts will be in vain if just one member from each of the countries listed attends a technical report meeting in London.

There is no point in the institution promoting itself as a low carbon champion and claiming to be at the forefront of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while insisting people make unnecessary airline journeys. It is nothing other than hypocrisy.

Source

Building Sustainable Design

Postscript

Christopher Hempsall msc ieng acibse mashrae