Professional engineering society codes of ethics declare that engineers have a fundamental ethical obligation to hold paramount the public health, safety, and welfare. But how far does this obligation go? Does the obligation to practice consistently with the welfare of the public include an obligation to, for example, reduce world poverty? Is that too much of a stretch?

We all know that economic growth is a key driver for economic prosperity. So, it seems to make sense to conclude that growth is essential to reduce poverty. But it is also recognized that growth at any cost is generally not sustainable. Responsible growth, that embraces both environmental sustainability and social development, is what may really be required to reduce poverty.

Today there is concern for environmental sustainability within the developing world. The following was recently noted by the World Bank:
• Five to six million people die each year in developing countries due to water-borne diseases and air pollution.
• Economic costs of environmental degradation have been estimated at 4 to 8 percent of GDP a year in many developing countries.
• Climate change threatens to further undermine long-term development and the ability of many poor people to escape poverty.

Currently, the World Bank’s environmental strategy places emphasis on developing country priorities with the following three objectives:
• Improving the quality of life—people’s health, livelihood, and vulnerability—affected by environmental conditions;
• Improving the quality of growth—by supporting policy, regulatory, and institutional frameworks for sustainable environmental management and by promoting sustainable private development; and
• Protecting the quality of the regional and global environment to address climate change, forests, water resources, and biodiversity.

So it seems that if sustainable development is to have any meaning, engineering societies and other segments of the engineering profession will need promote the importance of sustainable development among practicing engineers.

One recent example of promoting the importance of this issue was when the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) made a change to the NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers to add language relating to sustainable development. NSPE believed that the NSPE Code of Ethics should include a provision that recognizes the engineer’s obligation to perform professional services consistent with basic principles of sustainable development. At least two other national engineering societies had already amended or supplemented their Codes of Ethics to incorporate principles of sustainable development in their Codes. Following careful study, NSPE became convinced that implicit in the obligation to hold paramount the public health and safety is the responsibility to practice consistently with principles of sustainable development.

NSPE had first considered a recommendation a few years ago. But at that time, the NSPE Board rejected the recommendation largely due to cautions raised over potential liability concerns that such language could be used to hold professional engineers to a higher standard of care than would otherwise be legally required. However, following a period of study, NSPE moved the proposal forward, approved it without debate, and accepted the following language for inclusion in the NSPE Code of Ethics:

Section II.1.f. Engineers shall strive to adhere to the principles of sustainable development1 in order to protect the environment for future generations.

Footnote 1: "Sustainable development" is the challenge of meeting human needs for natural resources, industrial products, energy, food, transportation, shelter, and effective waste management while conserving and protecting environmental quality and the natural resource base essential for future development.

While changes to professional society codes of ethics send an important message to the profession, individual engineers will ultimately need to become actively engaged in understanding the problems facing the developing nations and designing solutions to overcome the challenges. Consider these commonly reported statistics. Currently, 20 percent of the world’s population is consuming 80 percent of the world’s resources; most of the remaining 80 percent of the world’s population live in poverty. People in industrial market economies use more than 80 times the amount of energy used by people who live in sub-Saharan Africa. If the energy use of developing countries was brought in line with the present usage of industrialized nations by the year 2025, this would require a five-fold increase in global energy consumption. The world’s population is expected to approximately double in the next century. Ninety percent of the increase will be in the poorest countries and 90 percent of this increase is expected to occur in already vastly over-crowded and under-serviced urban centers. Does that sound sustainable?

It is not only as a matter of professional ethics that engineers help the developing world, but frankly, it is also a matter of enlightened self interest to pursue sustainable solutions to these problems. As the world’s problem solvers, engineers will have a special role to play.


Arthur Schwartz serves as deputy executive director and general counsel for the National Society of Professional Engineers and writes two monthly columns, one on ethics and the other on law in the organization’s PE magazine. He can be reached at 703-684-2845 or via e-mail at aschwartz@nspe.org. Visit www.nspe.org for more information on this or other ethical matters.