Indonesian floods are thought to be tied to climate change. Global summit in Copenhagen produced only an outline of how countries may address the issue, but engineering firms see clients who believe “decarbonizing” is going to happen.

Regardless of the summit’s outcome, “we will continue to work on the [climate] cause we believe to be very important,” says Bertrand van Ee, president of the large Netherlands-based design firm DHV Group. “Our type of company needs to take a leadership position. We see the impact of climate change on the projects we do. We are confronted...at a very real level.”

In its Copenhagen Accord, emerging overnight on Dec. 18-19, the governments acknowledge the global temperature rise should be kept below 20°C to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Additionally, by the end of next month, developed countries will commit to quantified emissions targets starting in 2020. Major emerging economies and some smaller developing states will list voluntary pledges for action.

To help poorer nations, governments agree that $30 billion will be made available over the next three years, rising to $100 billion a year from 2020.

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, says the accord is “a letter of intent...the ingredients of an architecture that can respond to the long-term challenge of climate change.” But it lacks targets, legal status and precision on funding sources, he concedes.

Nevertheless, the increasing focus on greenhouse gases “fundamentally changes our design process,” says Keith Clarke, chief executive officer of Europe’s largest design firm, W.S. Atkins plc., Epsom, U.K. “It [now] includes an analysis of whole-life costs and benefits in a way that we have never done before,” he adds.

“Within five years, I need every single [employee] looking at the carbon budget for their project; they are all going to have some kind of carbon tool, just like they have a loading model,” says Clarke. Already, “most of our clients...are recognizing climate change is real, and the decarbonizing of the western industrial world is going to happen,” he adds.

Peter Head, London-based Arup Group’s chairman of global planning, is on a mission to promote engineering leadership in climate-change mitigation, taking him to over 20 countries. “The response I’ve had from engineers around the world has been very strong. Young people are very motivated by this message. That’s the future they want for their own careers in engineering,” says Head.

“Engineers in particular can actually lead the transition [because] engineers understand the integrated approach to delivering the changes we need,” he says. Work to reduce emissions will provide “big opportunities” for firms struggling with effects of the recession, he adds.

Copenhagen-based Ramboll Group A/S made the most of the summit, organizing events for clients, officials and media. “We see a lot of business opportunities because there is a lot of emphasis on CO2,” says Nadeem Niwaz, the firm’s project manager for climate change. We are trying to implement climate sustainability in all our services and our business units. We find many of our clients require a lot of input from different service areas...climate is so complex you have to be able as a company to take a holistic view.”

In India, C.N. Raghavendran, a partner of Chennai-based CR Narayana Rao Architects, says engineers are not...