OCEPP Partners in $2.5-Million International Research Project

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Aug. 27, 2014) - The Ontario Centre for Engineering and Public Policy (OCEPP) is among the 17 organizations and universities taking part in a groundbreaking, seven-year research project aimed at lowering Canada's carbon footprint. The project is titled Adapting Canadian Work and Workplaces to Respond to Climate Change: Canada in International Perspective (ACW). Ed Holder, minister of state (science and technology), announced today a $2.5-million grant for the project from Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

"We are excited to be part of this endeavour, which will focus on Canada's manufacturing, construction, resources and services sectors," notes OCEPP director Bernard Ennis, P.Eng. "Climate change and its impact on work is a big concern for engineers and policy-makers who struggle with uncertain policies that make engineering practice risky and difficult."

In developed countries like Canada, work accounts for nearly four-fifths of greenhouse gases produced through human activity, recent research has shown. ACW will examine what changes in law, policy, work processes, business models, strategies and other factors can help workplaces become greener-and which factors are obstacles. Partners in the ACW project include: York and Queen's universities, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the University of Westminister (U.K.). Since early 2010 OCEPP has been connected with many of the ACW research partners through another project called Work in a Warming World.

ACW's lead researcher is Carla Lipsig-Mummé, a York University professor and member of York's Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability. Her ACW research team includes nationally and internationally based climate scientists, senior labour market actors, and academics from a range of disciplines.

About the Ontario Centre for Engineering and Public Policy

The Ontario Centre for Engineering and Public Policy (OCEPP), the first institute of its kind in Canada, is committed to encouraging Ontario's more than 80,000 professional engineers and engineering interns to become more involved in public policy formation and review. The centre focuses on issues that include engineering licensure and regulation, infrastructure, energy, transportation and healthy communities. OCEPP was founded in June 2008 by Professional Engineers Ontario, the licensing and regulating body for engineering in Ontario.