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Here we are at the Envision
conference in Milan.
We are with Mr. Anthony Kane,
CEO of ISI.
Can you tell us something
about ISI?
Absolutely. So, the Institute
for Sustainable Infrastructure
was created originally by the
American Society of Civil Engineers,
the American counsel of
engineering companies
and the American Public
Works Association.
And we were created as
an independent organization
but we partner with Harvard
University Zofnass Program
for Sustainable Infrastructure to
develop the Envision rating system.
And then now we've
partnered with ICMQ here in Italy
to apply Envision in Italy.
Oh, great. During your speech,
you talked about the importance
of having like a common language,
what's your vision about that?
Absolutely. So, sustainability
is a very complex issue,
covering social, environmental
and economic benefits
and impacts. And infrastructure
is also very complex,
so when we began to communicate
around what does sustainable
infrastructures mean, having
a common language is a very
important concept because
you'll have different
professionals with different
technical expertise,
you'll have the general public,
you'll have investors,
government officials. When they speak they may be saying
the same words but they
may have different meanings.
And when they talk about
different environmentally
and social issues, they may be
coming from a different perspective.
So, having a consistent framework,
that gives them a reference point,
that they can understand when
someone says what do we mean
when we talk about community
values, what do we mean
when we talk about
stakeholder engagement,
they have a common place
they can go to understand.
Yeah, absolutely. And,
at least here in Italy
there is the perception that
sustainability costs more.
Is that true?
No, I don't think it's true
at all and I think where
that belief has come from
is... infrastructures, there's
a lot of inertia behind how we
do things and we like to do it
in a traditional way, how we
have done it before and
where this perception has come
from is that when we design
conventional projects all the
way to the end
and then we decide we want to
make that sustainable.
So, we add on solar panels
and sustainability features
and yes, that would add
costs but if we started
from the beginning, with the
determination of what is
the most sustainable project
and how we do incorporate
sustainability from the beginning,
you can often find cost savings
or at least cost neutral solutions
that would improve
the sustainability of the project
and it does not cost more.
Okay, thank you
very much.
Thank you.