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Revised December 8, 2024
Ethics codes and standards of professional practice are formally adopted documents published by professional/scientific societies that express the minimum obligations and expectations for their members. They are expressions of the sense of the geoscience community about the fundamental standards and norms of an ethical career.
Engineers who work in the geological environment (e.g., civil, mining, geotechnical, petroleum, hydrologic, soils, and foundation engineers) have published codes of ethics that provide a broader context for our understanding of professional geoethics.
(Under construction)
More to come...
Geoscientists Canada — Ethical Considerations in the Professional Practice of Geoscience. This document lists 21 ethics principles that professional geoscientists should abide by in their day-to-day practice (see pp. 7-8) and follows with a brief explanation of each (pp. 8-18).
International Association for Promoting Geoethics (IAPG) list of codes of ethics/conduct from prominent geoscience organizations worldwide, accessible via www.geoethics.org/codes
Professional Societies Mission Statements and Codes of Ethics, from Teaching GeoEthics Across the Geoscience Curriculum : Science Education Resource Center, accessible via serc.carleton.edu/geoethics/prof_soc.html
It is often useful to read the ethics statements of fields that are adjacent to the geosciences, like civil engineers. The
American Society of Civil Engineers
Code of Ethics (2017 version) listed the following as the first of their
Fundamental Canons
: "Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public and shall strive to comply with the principles of sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties."
While the 2020 version of the ASCE Code of Ethics does not include that sentence, the underlying ideas remain.
Working definitions of "sustainable development" include the following:
• ...from B Commission Report (1987): "sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
• ...from the American Society for Civil Engineers: "Sustainable Development is the process of applying natural, human, and economic resources to enhance the safety, welfare, and quality of life for all of the society while maintaining the availability of the remaining natural resources."
• ...from University of California-Los Angeles Sustainability Committee (2016): Sustainability is the integration of environmental health, social equity and economic vitality in order to create thriving, healthy, diverse and resilient communities for this generation and generations to come. The practice of sustainability recognizes how these issues are interconnected and requires a systems approach and an acknowledgement of complexity.
• United Nations Sustainable Development homepage (sdgs.un.org) and goals (sdgs.un.org/goals).
Also of interest: the Washington Accord
BACK to the Applied Ethics Resources homepage.
If you have any questions or comments about this site or its contents, drop an email to Vince_Cronin(at)CroninProjects.org.