Today, March 4th, we celebrate World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, proclaimed by UNESCO at the initiative of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) to recognize the role of engineers in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
I invite you to read the message from the WFEO President, Dr Seng Chuan Tan, available here.
At a time of a troubled world situation and a climate crisis with growing energy challenges, international cooperation platforms such as WFEO, World Energy Council and UN CEETare more necessary than ever.
They were not built only for easy times.
Across borders and fractures, they maintain technical and scientific dialogue, and embody the values that unite us: expertise at the service of the common good, commitment to secure, affordable and sustainable energy.
After the first World Energy Conference in London in 1924, its founder wrote:
« Above all, however, I count the greatest value of the fact that individuals from so many nations have met together and, irrespective of the position that was taken by any group in the years just behind us, have been able to meet round a common council table in friendly co-operation. The more that we are able to do that in the future, the more we learn the views and the purposes of other peoples, the more we create these personal relations and acquaintanceships, the less likely will it be that other considerations will disrupt the peace between us in the future. »
A hundred years later, this message has lost none of its relevance. It is in this spirit that we continue to work today.
Marie-Line Vaiani
Chair of the WFEO Committee on Energy
Member of the UN Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition (CEET)
Secretary General of the World Energy Council France
