ORDRE DES INGNIEURS DU QUBEC

NOVEMBER 2014 SESSION

Open book (candidates may bring any textbooks or notes)

Calculators: authorized models only
Duration of the examination: 3 hours

14-EC-3 ENGINEERING, THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT

This examination is made up of 5 separate questions, each of which has several sub-questions.

1- General knowledge about sustainable development (15%)

1-a) What tools can businesses use to measure the progress and attainment of sustainable
development goals? Give an example. (5%)

1-b) Present two sustainable development indicators used by the Government of Qubec.
(10%)

2- Your employer would like to use the BNQ 21000 approach and you are given the mandate
to implement this sustainable development standard. (25%)

2-a) Describe the BNQ 21000 approach and its goals. (15%)

2-b) BNQ 21000 is compatible with other major international standards. What are they?
(10%)

3- The environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a powerful tool for engineers wishing to
create projects that support sustainable development. (20%)

3-a) Using specific terms, describe the type of information provided by an LCA. (10%)

3-b) Define a "functional unit" in the context of an LCA. (5%)

3-c) Briefly describe an impact assessment method used in an LCA. (5%)

4- The ISO 14001 standard is seen as a global reference for implementing an environmental
management system (EMS). (25%)

4-a) What are the primary steps involved in setting up an EMS to meet the ISO 14001
standard? (15%)

4-b) Generally speaking, what should be included in a program that is part of an EMS
seeking ISO 14001 certification? (10%)

5-

A sustainable development approach often includes accountability reporting to

stakeholders. (15%)

5-a) What is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework and what is it used for?
(10%)

5-b) Under the GRI framework, what are the main areas in which an organization's
sustainability performance is assessed? (5%)