CSCE and ISI

The purpose of this partnership between Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) and Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) is to advance sustainable infrastructure practices in Canada by accelerating the use of the Envision sustainable infrastructure framework.

Envision is a holistic sustainability framework and rating system that enables a thorough examination of the sustainability and resiliency of all types of infrastructure. It is the only comprehensive tool in North America that can assist government agencies and their consultants and contractors in delivering infrastructure that tackles communities’ most pressing challenges, including improving the quality of life for everyone, creating quality jobs, increasing economic growth, supporting climate resilience, reducing emissions, and cultivating social equity and cohesiveness.

Envision sets the standard for what constitutes sustainable infrastructure and incentivizes higher performance goals beyond minimum requirements.

Melissa Peneycad, ISI’s managing director says:

Envision Canada comes at a time when communities across the country are looking for ways to build a cleaner and greener future. Envision is a useful and practical tool to support the long-term planning toward a climate resilient future. It takes complex topics and breaks them down into actions that can be implemented on any type of infrastructure project.

CSCE is a not-for-profit learned society created to develop and maintain high standards of civil engineering practice in Canada and to enhance the public image of the civil engineering profession. CSCE’s national office is in Surrey, British Columbia. To learn more about CSCE, please visit https://csce.ca/

ISI is a nonprofit education and research organization based in Washington, DC. ISI was established in 2010 by the American Public Works Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the American Council of Engineering Companies. To learn more about ISI, please visit https://sustainableinfrastructure.org/

CSCE and ISI are equally committed to improving civil infrastructure which includes providing training and tools such as Envision to the civil engineering profession to advance the sustainability, equity, and resiliency of the built environment.

Dr. Brenda McCabe, CSCE president and professor emerita at the University of Toronto says:

Canada has a global reputation for high-quality, innovative engineering for sustainable development. Adding Envision to civil engineers’ toolkits to further improve the sustainability, equity, and resiliency of Canada’s built environment is exciting and noteworthy. We are proud to collaborate with ISI on this important journey.

CSCE and ISI are working together to advance the use of Envision in Canada. A CSCE-ISI Joint Task force meets monthly to discuss initiatives to achieve three main goals:

  • Improving awareness and uptake: Promoting the benefits of Envision and advocating for its application to Canadian infrastructure.
  • Capacity building: ensuring there are sufficient resources to successfully apply the Envision framework in Canada.
  • Fostering innovation: demonstrating how Envision fits in the Canadian context and represents Canadian needs and values.

Download the Envision Canada Packet here to learn more.