Accelerating Decarbonization Efforts in Asia: A Q&A with Joan Julia

What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in decarbonizing our sectors?

We sat down with Joan Julia, our senior environmental scientist and carbon accounting lead for Asia, to discuss this and more, drawing from his experience helping clients analyze carbon footprints and make critical decarbonization decisions. 

Let's get started:

Can you tell us a bit about your role at Jacobs and what’s keeping you busy these days?

I’m a Senior Environmental Scientist specializing in air dispersion modeling and human health risk assessment. I’m also the Carbon Accounting Lead Asia working on carbon management projects, including embodied carbon assessment and scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions assessment.

Tell us more about your career background. What sparked your interest in a STEAM career in decarbonization?

I’m a pharmacist by education and worked on human health risk assessments related to soil and groundwater pollution in France. After moving to Singapore, I started to work on ambient air quality and air dispersion modeling.

We live in a world where climate change is no longer a distant threat; it’s a reality, and decarbonization is one of the solutions to reduce global warming. I’ve experienced this first-hand, working on carbon management projects and being part of the solution over the past few years.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing global decarbonization efforts?

It depends on the sectors, countries/regions and their goals but data accessibility and collection are often challenging. Collecting relevant and accurate data is a complex undertaking. It can be further exacerbated by the number and diversity of stakeholders involved, as well as the need for quality assessment and compliance internally and externally. It is a combined and cross-business unit effort generally including facilities, finance, operations, procurement, sustainability functions and external partners.

Adopting a pragmatic approach and acknowledging that there is no perfect data is an excellent way to start the decarbonization journey. Workshop sessions can be a valuable tool to gather relevant information within the organization and share best practices around data accessibility and collection.

Can you tell us more about the decarbonization initiatives, solutions and projects you’re working on with our clients?

I’ve supported clients in calculating embodied carbon (cradle to construction completion) for an existing hyperscale data center facility in Singapore. Embodied carbon makes up 11% of all carbon emissions globally. In the next 30 years, it’s expected to be responsible for half of the entire carbon footprint of new construction.

The objectives of this study were to understand the current baseline of embodied carbon and identify key decision points and the steps or methods to reduce embodied carbon.

Interestingly, this embodied carbon assessment includes mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems specific to data centers, such as generators, power train units, switchboards, switchgear, etc., in addition to the data center shell (building.)

I’m also supporting a client to develop a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis framework (MCDA) to assess the relative carbon footprint for climate resilience infrastructure planning. The MCDA covers several coastal and drainage protection measures, from sea walls to percolation systems.

Where is the most significant opportunity in decarbonizing our key sectors?

There are many, but Europe’s increase in fossil fuel prices is a key catalyst for a global energy crisis. In the years ahead, gas prices will likely remain high and volatile.

Higher fossil fuel prices can help drive the case for low-carbon alternatives – for instance, it can make low-carbon alternatives more cost competitive and encourage governments to implement policies and regulations that support clean investments. The potential acceleration of clean investment by the public and private sectors can create several opportunities for Jacobs.

People would be surprised to know that ….

I (almost) have the same first name as my wife (Joanne.)

What’s something you learned in the last week?

It takes 6-to-7 hours to reach Kuala Lumpur from Singapore by bus. I discovered this last week when I went with my son and his rugby team/club for an international tournament.

I also started using the R OpenAir software package that helps analyze, interpret and understand air quality data — or more generally atmospheric composition data.

What is your proudest career moment?

My move to Singapore in 2010. My wife relocated to Singapore in November 2010, so we left everything behind except our 5-month-old son Tom 😊. This move enabled us to discover other people, cultures, ways of life and work.

When you’re not at work, you enjoy…

Traveling, sports such as touch rugby, stand-up paddle and woodworking.

What do you enjoy most about being part of #OurJacobs?

Meeting new people. I’m always impressed with how Jacobs can help connect people all around the world.

Joan Julia has more than 14 years of experience in environmental, air quality and human health risk assessment as well as embodied carbon and Scope 1, 2, 3 greenhouse gas emissions assessment for various industries.

He is actively involved in Greenhouse Gas Inventory, Embodied Carbon Assessment Study, Air Quality Study (AQS), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Environmental Impact Study (EIS), Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA), Pollution Control Study (PCS), and Site-Specific Impact Assessment (SSIA) for various industries and government clients in Singapore and overseas.

Joan graduated with a Master of Science degree in environmental health risk assessment and management from the University Paris XI, Paris V and the National School of Public Health, France. Later he earned his Ph.D. (PharmD) from the University Paris V.