Bechtel joined the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance as the sole engineering and construction partner following an invitation from the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center to help fight the impacts of rising temperatures and support urban preparedness against heat waves around the world.
Heat waves across the globe are hotter, more frequent, and longer lasting than ever before. Left unmitigated, extreme heat will impact every aspect of human life - from where and how we live, to the food we put on our tables and the structure of our economies.
As part of the Alliance, Bechtel will use its experience of designing resilience standards; developing guidelines supporting climate-proof construction standards; performing cost-benefit analyses of innovations that can make infrastructure more resilient; and collaborating with regional institutions to make existing infrastructure more robust and efficient to support projects that protect communities from extreme heat.
Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center Director, Kathy Baughman McLeod said:
“We are tremendously pleased to have Bechtel join the Alliance. Bechtel’s vast urban planning credentials along with its century-plus expertise in delivering public infrastructure will prove invaluable to the Alliance’s fight to protect lives and livelihoods from extreme urban heat with a focus on the most vulnerable people and communities.”
Tam Nguyen, Bechtel’s Manager for Sustainability who represents Bechtel on the Alliance said:
“Heat waves are one of the most dangerous weather hazards facing communities around the world and coping with them is more than a technical challenge; it’s also a human one, where vulnerable people tend to suffer the most. We’re pleased to join an expert alliance that is helping to find solutions, and contribute the lessons learned from our projects worldwide. Mitigation and adaption measures will positively impact the quality of infrastructure, the services it provides, and the health and well-being of people, enabling communities to tolerate extreme heat, as well as preventing heat rises in the first place.”
The Alliance has over 30 members including global cities impacted by extreme heat, from Melbourne to Mexico City, as well as disaster relief charities and experts in the fields of public health, climate change risk and disaster management. The Alliance’s vision is a world without heat-related deaths and loss of livelihoods.
Read more about how Bechtel and its customers are tackling extreme heat here.
