History of the CEC
Established in 1946 by three UK Professional Engineering Institutions (Institutions of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers), the CEC was founded to increase collaboration among engineering institutions in Commonwealth nations following the end of the Second World War.
The first meeting was held in London, attended by representatives from Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK. CEC became a founder member of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) in 1968, and has been a part of the Institution of Civil Engineers, who provide the secretariat services, for much of its existence, reinforcing the ICE’s commitment to global engineering excellence.
CEC’s role today
Over the decades, the CEC has played an important role in advancing the principles of a sustainable built environment, engineering education, knowledge transfer, sharing of standards and best practice, and bringing together like-minded professionals in a membership network. We have an important role to play in advocating for the engineering profession at the highest level of governance through the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings (CHOGM), and this is a key engagement mechanism for driving policy change. Our aim is to support indigenous engineering institutions with common challenges faced by engineers around the world including capacity building, sustainable development, and advocating for equity, diversity, and inclusion in engineering. Our strength lies in our partnerships, and the common values held by Commonwealth countries including democracy, good governance, human rights, gender equality and a more equitable sharing of the benefits of globalisation.
Wilton Park meeting on sustainable urbanisation
One of the CEC’s most impactful recent initiatives has been a partnership with the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Initiative, which brings together the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council with the Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA); Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU); Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP); Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF); and The King’s Foundation.
These organisations collaborate to address challenges related to sustainable future cities, in particular the challenge of rapid urbanisation in developing countries. Our efforts have led to initiatives such as the Call to Action on Sustainable Urbanisation and the adoption of the Declaration on Sustainable Urbanisation at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali in 2022, reinforced in Samoa in 2024. This commitment is now entering the operationalisation phase, through the proposal of a transformative coalition.
UN Habitat data reveals that nearly 50% of the expected growth in the world’s urban population to 2050 will be in Commonwealth countries, representing a doubling of the urban population in the Commonwealth from 1bn to 2bn in the next 25 years. With half of the top 20 global emerging cities being in the Commonwealth, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Nairobi, Kolkata, Kuala Lumpur, Bangalore, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Chennai and Dhaka, this represents a significant and urgent challenge.
With cities being responsible for 70% of global carbon emissions, the consequences of allowing cities to urbanise and industrialise in an unsustainable way are catastrophic for the wellbeing of people and planet.
A recent three day ‘Wilton Park Dialogue’ sponsored by the UK’s FCDO (Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office) brought together a group of more than 50 leaders from across the Commonwealth including engineers, architects, planners, policymakers, local and national governments, UN representatives, and financial and industry leaders to discuss the formation of a transformative coalition to tackle this problem of rapid urbanisation and prevent the corresponding rise in carbon emissions. This work will progress over the coming years as we develop action areas to tackle particular parts of the problem, and engineers will continue to have an important role to play.
As we approach the 80th anniversary of the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council we find that our work is as important as ever in bringing engineering voices together to address shared challenges related to all aspects of infrastructure and the built environment, and being a force for positive change. If you would like to become an individual member of CEC, this is free of charge.
Sign up at the CEC website here https://www.commonwealthengineers.org/membership.html
Written by Dawn Bonfield MBE FREng, President of the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council. Dawn is an Honorary Fellow of IStructE and a UK representative of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations.