2022 CCBJ Business Achievement Awards
Released on February 10, 2023 in recognition of climate change industry achievements in 2022. (Note: Additions of modifications may be made to this list. Award certificates will be sent to recipients. In-person awards will be presented to those in attendance at the EBJ Awards banquet at Environmental Industry Summit XXII on March 22-23 in San Diego.
About the 2022 CCBJ Business Achievement Awards: In October-December 2022, Climate Change Business Journal® (CCBJ) solicited nominations for the CCBJ Business Achievement Awards. Nominations were accepted in 200-word essays in specific categories. Final awards were determined by a committee of CCBJ staff, CCBJ editorial advisory board members and regular contributors. (Disclaimer: Company audits were not conducted to verify information or claims submitted with nominations.)
NEW PRACTICE: Climate Action Leadership
Stantec for announcing an integrated climate action leadership team that includes Climate Solutions leaders, a climate science director, and a sustainable development goals (SDG) impact leader. This most recent alignment of expertise and experience is a continuation of the firm’s long-held commitment to supporting clients’ sustainability goals. Stantec’s climate practice combines its global services and expertise to support clients through every step of their planning, regulatory, mitigation, and adaptation journey. Seven new leaders across the globe will help drive creative and innovative approaches to sustainability and climate challenges. This new leadership team will be working across business lines, driving Stantec’s Climate Solutions to design and deliver integrated strategies for clients, communities, and the environment. Members of the climate action leadership team are respected engineers, scientists, designers, and business leaders with decades of experience driving forward sustainable and resilient environmental solutions and design.
NEW PRACTICE: Climate Science
Stanley Consultants for launching a new practice in climate science. Through services provided by Resilient Analytics, a 2022 acquisition, Stanley now helps clients understand how climate stressors will impact infrastructure and people. Proven climate, engineering, and economic models help clients make informed and equitable decisions surrounding future fiscal costs and provide actionable steps that communities and organizations can take to mitigate the impacts of climate change. A crucial new service is impact assessments, which help to identify an organization’s potential climate impacts through three key components: Baseline projections; infrastructure and social impacts; and detailed risk analysis.
NEW PRACTICE: Energy Transition
Arcadis for consolidating its energy-related services into a new technical solution called Energy Transition, changing the way the company engages with clients and delivers services in the energy transition space. Through Energy Transition, Arcadis will combine the full breadth of its technical capabilities and experience more effectively, helping clients navigate their energy transition journeys to meet environmental, sustainability, and business goals. In a recent successful example, by combining the company’s experience in due diligence services, deep anaerobic digestion and biogas reuse design, and extensive enviro-socio permitting in the renewable energy space, Arcadis was able to seamlessly deliver its full breadth of services to the Danish biogas company Nature Energy. Arcadis is helping Nature Energy develop and implement several proposed industrial scale biogas facilities in North America.
PROJECT MERIT: Offshore Wind Infrastructure
The Connecticut Port Authority (CPA) for transforming its State Pier in New London to a world-class, heavy-lift-capable, climate-resilient marine terminal—the first in North America to accommodate assembly, staging and loadout of massive offshore-wind components demanding five times the customary 1,000-pound-per-square-foot (psf) dock strength. Assembled offshore, turbines are taller than the Statue of Liberty. CPA’s vision for the terminal includes a public-private development agreement integrating wind developers, utility company, and terminal operator to ensure utility-scale offshore-wind project implementation. Combined with existing rail facilities, the terminal becomes the center point of an East Coast offshore-wind network. Three offshore wind projects totaling over 1,700 megawatts are already scheduled. The innovative, two-berth design addresses resiliency and carbon reduction, with enhanced berth pockets accommodating new-build wind turbine installation vessels (WTIVs). Charybdis, the first U.S.-built WTIV, will berth at State Pier. The northeast bulkhead, integrated king and sheet pile wall, adjacent 5,000-psf heavy-lift platform, and delivery-berth dredging for component handling and load-out were all completed in 2022, and operations begin in spring 2023.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Climate Impact
ERM for launching the Climate Impact Platform in February 2022, formally CRISP, to help users understand, quantify and respond to climate risk. The platform is driven by ERM’s proprietary Global Climate Database, providing data across multiple scenarios and time periods and converting results into actionable climate-risk information. With 45 team members across eight countries, continuous development remains a top priority, with plans to launch new functions throughout 2023. The platform has been used to deliver over 60 projects to more than 55 clients and assessed 1,600 client assets globally. The platform has 50 climate indicators, 8,000 data layers and three climate change scenarios across nine time horizons. ERM continues to add new indicators and enhanced data sets to forecast risks more accurately. The Platform’s initial focus was on physical risk; however, ERM has started to include scenarios involving transitional risk to provide a comprehensive risk profile for clients.
IT: Zero Emission Vehicles
GHD for developing and employing a planning solution called ZEVO to provide confidence in the zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) decarbonization process. Transit buses in North America consume upwards of 98,000 barrels of petroleum every day, emitting 4 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. But conversion to ZEVs can be disruptive, expensive and risky due to uncertainty over ZEVs’ performance, operating range, fleet size, scheduling, maintenance needs, and lifecycle costs. ZEVO employs a proprietary physics model that considers on-road factors such as elevation, local climate, duty cycle, stop events, and speed, among other metrics, to compare real-life operating scenarios with and without ZEVs on the road. The model works for any fleet type or size by collecting, auditing and processing data from the fleet (i.e., mileage, maintenance costs, fuel efficiency, etc.) to simulate replacement scenarios. Each scenario contains specific financial, operational, environmental, infrastructure and energy analyses presented in a PowerBI platform. The tool empowers fleets to simplify and clarify their decision-making process around decarbonization and enables them to develop pertinent business cases, and consequently, an implementation roadmap.
TECHNOLOGY MERIT: Climate Action and Adaptation Plan
Rincon Consultants, Inc. for helping Santa Cruz County to develop a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP). The CAAP is a long-term plan that includes strategies that will both decarbonize Santa Cruz County in support of California’s carbon neutrality goal and address the worst impacts of climate change. CAAP reports are typically very technical, provided in a static format, difficult to maintain, and less approachable for public consumption. The County’s goal was to develop a more dynamic and accessible CAAP that fostered better collaboration, action, and provided an easier framework to adjust ongoing strategies. To support the County’s goals and advance CAAP communication methods, Rincon created a digital platform combining geographic information systems (GIS), infographics, and images to explain the County’s climate risks, understand its vulnerabilities, and track progress. This innovative digital platform represents an evolution in the way CAAPs have historically been presented to the public. As a “living plan” it can more easily track progress, evolve with time, foster public awareness and increase comprehension.
TECHNOLOGY MERIT: Wind Power Infrastructure
Terracon’s engineering team for meeting the challenge of climate change by designing the next generation of wind foundations in partnership with PG&T leadership. The GripTerra pier foundation is the preferred sustainable choice for wind energy. Using patented and patent-pending designs, Terracon’s Pier and Anchor foundations install faster and with less concrete and excavation than traditional spreadfoot foundations. Terracon foundations also have the potential to be repowered to handle the larger turbines of tomorrow. As wind turbines get bigger, Terracon’s innovative patent-pending foundation design can support increased loads while realizing a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Terracon describes GripTerra as the most sustainable and eco-friendly foundation for wind turbines on the market, noting: “The future of wind foundations is superior design, not more concrete.”
PROJECT MERIT: Climate Risk Model
WSP USA for a vulnerability assessment of critical infrastructure on behalf of Pinellas County, a peninsula on Florida’s Gulf coast and home to 1 million people living at or near sea level. The assessment generated data and processes to support capital investments and policies to mitigate or adapt to the impacts of climate change. WSP USA’s climate risk model, described as a first of its kind in the United States, includes probabilistic floodplain development to analyze infrastructure risk — future storm surge data from state-of-the-art modeling forecasts the effects of higher water levels, including surge and wave action. A countywide asset database captures water, wastewater, stormwater, transportation, natural gas and electrical infrastructure, and relates flood depth to damage costs to determine the cost of climate change on at-risk assets. The assessment also introduces a new process for cost-benefit analysis of all assets and enables vulnerability scoring to help prioritize adaptation efforts. After the analysis, WSP applied the Adaptation Decision-Making Assessment Process developed for the Federal Highway Administration to conduct facility-level assessments and develop recommendations for adaptation.
PROJECT MERIT: Forest Conservation
Tetra Tech, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for implementing the Greening Prey Lang (GPL) project in Cambodia to conserve biodiversity, sequester forest carbon, improve governance, and promote the well-being of rural communities. In 2022, GPL supported the development of three projects to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), which will generate tens of millions of dollars for community co-benefits and the management of over 600,000 hectares of protected areas. In 2022 the project also finalized the first-ever genetic analysis of Asian Elephant populations in Cambodia, which found that elephant populations in targeted protected areas were double previous estimates. GPL also provided improved economic benefits to over 110,000 Cambodians through interventions including support to wildlife-friendly agricultural product value chains such as rice, cashew, and turmeric; promotion of 19 ecotourism sites which generated more than $30,000 of income for rural communities; and support to non-timber forest product value chains worth millions of dollars such as honey, resin, and talipot palm.
PROJECT MERIT: Green Hydrogen
ATOME for becoming the first pure-play green hydrogen and ammonia production company listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 2022 ATOME signed a 120MW power purchase agreement (PPA), the largest PPA to date with the national power company of Paraguay, ANDE, to develop a green hydrogen and ammonia production facility which will help decarbonize the agricultural sector. Almost all ammonia production derives from fossil fuels and is used to make fertilizer. Phase one is a 420MW scheme located south of Asuncion and close to the river that is Paraguay’s main import/export route and home to industrial manufacturers. Located in Yguazu, phase 2 will supply up to 360,000 tonnes of green ammonia yearly. ATOME’s Paraguay projects will be supplied from 100% renewable energy. AECOM is supporting ATOME as owner’s engineer to oversee the scheme. Latin America is one of the largest global importers of ammonia; the aim of this scheme is to have the largest green ammonia facility in the region operational by 2025 followed by phase 2 in 2027.
PROJECT MERIT: Energy Efficiency Plan for LA Metro
LA Matro and TRC for preparing an Energy Efficiency Long Term Plan (EELTP) for the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro), which is a strategic blueprint for implementing proposed upgrades and facility building system replacements, resulting in lower energy consumption and operating costs, improved asset management and reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over 10 years. Metro’s goals include optimizing energy use and reducing consumption by 17% and supporting their 2019 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan commitments to reduce GHG emissions 79% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. The EELTP provides an assessment of the systems at operating facilities and supports how the agency procures, operates, maintains, rehabilitates and replaces assets. It supports data-driven decisionmaking that is accurate and actionable. Metro must account for environmental, social and economic considerations in planning and operations. The EELTP aligns energy and GHG emission reduction goals with Metro’s Equity Platform Framework priorities. TRC built a project prioritization tool into the EELTP, which enables Metro to generate multiyear scenarios to implement the upgrades and replacements.
PROJECT MERIT: Heat Impact on Schools
Resilient Analytics for completing a comprehensive study of national heat impact on K-12 schools. U.S. schools are not equipped for the extreme heat caused by climate change and struggle to cope with overheated classrooms and inadequate cooling systems. Over the last several years, schools have been forced to take “heat days” because classrooms are too hot for students. Temperature projections indicate that this problem will only get worse over the next two decades. Resilient Analytics conducted an analysis of future air conditioning requirements due to climate change in 93,000 K-12 schools across the United States. Analysis showed that school-cooling costs will soar over $40 billion by 2025, and schools will pay an additional $1.5 billion each year for operation and maintenance. The cost is projected to exceed $100 billion by 2040. Analysis provided detailed results for states, school districts, and counties including the total cost of equipment, annual operating and maintenance requirements and number of students impacted.
PROJECT MERIT: Renewable Energy
Tetra Tech for providing technical support through the USAID-supported Scaling Up Renewable Energy (SURE) Program to help Colombia accelerate its transition to affordable, reliable low-carbon energy. In 2022, Tetra Tech and USAID partners helped Colombia’s Providencia Island to develop a resilient power system that will lower emissions by about 6,400 million tons CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) per year, reduce diesel subsidies, electrify transport, power tourism, and diversify the island’s energy mix. The team also worked with the government to procure 2.5 MW of new wind and solar power to make its power system more resilient to climate change. The team then coordinated implementation with government, financiers, and other stakeholders, such as the National Fund for Non-Conventional Energy and Energy Efficiency (FENOGE), to install 530 solar home systems with community participation. SURE also supported FENOGE, a key player in financing Colombia’s just energy transition, to develop its first Gender and Diversity Policy, effective in May 2022. SURE’s work in Colombia is a model that other nations with low-carbon ambitions can replicate.
PROJECT MERIT: Renewable Energy
AECOM for helping the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to identify technical challenges in co-siting offshore wind power and hydrogen production on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), as well as permitting/regulatory changes needed to advance hydrogen as an energy vector to store and transport offshore wind energy. AECOM’s final report, Assessment of BOEM’s Role in Reviewing Hydrogen Production as a Complement to Offshore Wind, provides recommendations to update regulatory guidance for offshore development on the OCS, discusses trends and opportunities for H2-OSW research, and identifies gaps in technical review expertise required to regulate and manage hydrogen production as a complement to offshore wind energy in an environmentally responsible manner and in compliance with human health/safety guidelines. AECOM’s extensive offshore technical and energy permitting experience provided the right fit and perspective to thoroughly engage with these analyses, contributing to an emerging energy sector within the renewables transition. AECOM has a longstanding relationship supporting BOEM and other federal agencies with nuanced understanding of their research priorities and regulatory processes.
PROJECT MERIT: Airport Sustainability
AECOM for assisting The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) with its long-term environmental master plan focused on six key areas: climate change, carbon neutrality and emissions, strategic energy use, water management, natural environment, and waste management. AECOM is helping with each strategic plan, focusing on high level capital projects and operational changes to meet environmental goals by conducting baseline assessments; overseeing peer review and analysis of current strategies; identifying priority areas and related goals; preparing cost/benefit analysis for programs and targets; and recommending systems to monitor performance and communicate key metrics. The team recently developed a performance target tool for carbon and energy, as well as forms for integrating climate change resilience adaptation with the planning process. The International Aviation Waste Management Assn. is collaborating on the waste management plan, and GeoProcess Research Associates is supporting the natural environment management plan. Toronto Pearson’s leadership will help define environmental and sustainability goals paving the way towards innovative, best-in-class practices for the aviation industry.
PROJECT MERIT: Blue Carbon
Blue carbon, the capture of carbon by marine and coastal ecosystems, is an exciting growth area given its potential to mitigate both climate change and the nature crisis. Jacobs is recognized for studies on carbon captured in the sediment of restored saltmarshes and for advancing the knowledge needed to develop the U.K.’s carbon accounting methodology for saltmarshes. The novel method developed for this research brought together Jacobs’ global expertise in carbon and coastal restoration with academic partners at Manchester Metropolitan University. Completed in 2022, the project was conducted for the U.K. Environment Agency and supports the Agency’s ambitions of becoming net-zero using nature. Findings were deemed “ground-breaking,” with laboratory analysis that demonstrated restored saltmarshes around the U.K. captured much more organic carbon than previously thought at rates as much as or greater than for trees and peat. This work led to Jacobs being invited as the only engineering consultant in the Blue Recovery Leaders Group, which has been convened by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust to help unlock and demonstrate the value of wetland creation.
PROJECT MERIT: Marine Habitat
Oyster reefs are considered one of the planet’s most imperiled marine habitats. Jacobs is recognized for managing modeling, permitting, design, and construction oversight of the Pensacola East Bay Oyster Habitat Restoration Project along 6.5-miles of Florida’s shoreline. Partnering with The Nature Conservancy, Jacobs designed reef structures to maximize oyster settlement under specific local conditions, enabled through review of pre-construction monitoring data and intensive modeling (shoreline conditions and wave attenuation) design and engineering processes. The project placed 33 oyster reefs along the shoreline resulting in oyster settlements; important habitats for commercially and recreationally valuable finfish, shellfish, and birds; and a source of oyster larvae for adjacent harvestable reefs restored by the state. Completed in 2022, the project not only restored oyster reefs but improves water quality through filtration and provides natural resilience to the effects of sea level rise, in addition to providing shoreline protection, and nursery and foraging habitat for other aquatic life. Reef restoration is also expected to complement the commercial oyster reefs industries that have been hit hard over the years.
PROJECT MERIT: Reef Conservation
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF) for piloting the unique Resilient Reefs Initiative (RRI) with project partners AECOM, Reef Resilience Network, The Nature Conservancy, Columbia GSAPP, Resilient Cities Catalyst, Australian Government, UNESCO, and the BHP Foundation. Globally, an estimated 75% of coral reefs are under threat from climate change and other human stresses. The RRI was developed to help five critically important UNESCO World Heritage coral reefs that support 25% of all marine life in the ocean. Healthy reefs protect coastlines from storms and erosion, contributing an estimated $10 trillion in ecosystem services. The RRI is developing the first fully integrated transferable model designed to build the resilience of coral reefs and communities that depend on them. Partners are also working to empower and equip reef managers to be agents of change and institutionalize resilience planning, empowering and equipping reef communities to take local action in the face of global threats and fostering a global network of reef resilience leaders, creating sustainable jobs and income.
PROJECT MERIT: Flood Response
Weston Solutions, Inc. for completing a multi-phase project in 2022 ranging from emergency flood response to permanent repairs and increased levee system resiliency. In winter 2019, a bomb cyclone struck America’s Upper Midwest. Heavy rains followed, resulting in rapid snow melt and runoff that overtopped and breached downstream levees in several states along the Missouri River and its tributaries, causing catastrophic flooding and damaging residences and farmland. Weston closed active breaches to address flooding and levee damage to the 32-mile L550 levee system. Flooding scoured and deposited large amounts of sand across agricultural fields, rendering them unusable. Instead of dredging sand from the river, Weston mechanically removed sand from farmland, which expedited breach closures and returned impacted property to productive use. Self-launching riprap was used to protect the closed breaches and along portions of the levee at high scour locations. Sustainable, locally sourced clay and stone was used for permanent repairs, and drainage structure capacity was restored with updated materials and construction techniques. Cost-effective use of idled farm equipment from local firms expedited repairs and benefited affected communities, inspiring the phrase “farmer strong.”
PROJECT MERIT: Clean Hydrogen
ICF for market analysis that contributed to DOE officially closing on a $504 million loan guarantee in June 2022 to finance the ACES clean hydrogen and energy storage facility, DOE’s first loan guarantee for a clean energy project in nearly a decade. The Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project in Utah has the potential to become the world’s largest clean hydrogen storage facility; however, it lacked the financing required to bring the project to market. The DOE tapped ICF to analyze the long-duration storage and dispatchable clean power markets in Utah and California, identify and make sense of regulations at the state and federal levels that might impact the project, and quantify the effect of various downside cases. The United States can’t get to net zero GHG emissions without a long-duration storage option, and ICF’s deep bench of experts was key to making this groundbreaking hydrogen project happen.
INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP: Economics of Climate Change
GHD’s Aquanomics for research that uses a bespoke model to estimate the future economic impact of water risk from droughts, floods and storms across seven key markets at both a GDP and sector level. As global warming intensifies, water risks are expected to grow. The numbers are staggering – $5.6 trillion could be lost between 2022 and 2050, assuming a two-degree rise in global temperatures in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement. Aquanomics’ research combines insurance data and econometric modeling to demonstrate the wider economic impact of future water risk.? The research is part of ongoing discussions with Aquanomics’ clients and the wider industry about how the company can collectively unlock more investment, innovation and integrated solutions globally. By focusing on economic impacts Aquanomics aims to identify the benefits of tackling water risk head on.?Raising awareness of water risk, Aquanomics was presented at the COP27 summit and covered in more than 1,400 broadcast, print and online media stories globally.
INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP: Climate & Infrastructure
Worley for delivering a more sustainable world through insights and leadership. Princeton University and Worley published papers bringing new thinking to practical climate action: From Ambition to Reality I: Weaving the threads of net-zero delivery, published August 2021; and From Ambition to Reality 2: Measuring change in the race to deliver net zero, published August 2022. The papers focus on delivery of net zero infrastructure and a paradigm change through five shifts, and a measurement framework to enable a new delivery paradigm by 2030. In 2022 Worley drove these solutions into actions by: The Charge On Innovation Consortium, Block Chain for Energy Consortium, Direct Air Capture Alliance (DAC) and collaboration with ABB and IBM; Presentations at events including COP27, IMARC, GasTech and NY Climate Week; Being a Partner, Champion or Sponsor for FAST-Infra Consortium, Climate Leaders Coalition, Net Zero Australia, Business Ambition for 1.5°, Aiming for Zero and the Energy Transitions Commission; and Sharing our thinking and our work – including sustainable water, industrial decarbonization, low-carbon hydrogen, renewables, carbon management, renewable fuels and energy transition materials.
INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP: Decarbonization Roadmap
AECOM for developing a preliminary “Decarbonization Roadmap” commissioned by Argonne National Laboratories in the first few days of the new Biden Administration. Within six weeks the Secretary of Energy was briefed on Argonne’s analysis, leveraging AECOM’s Rosetta energy forecasting methodology, showing the prospective impact of aggressive planned actions at Argonne to significantly reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG usage, increase carbon- and pollution-free electricity use, improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon intensity of its buildings and transportation infrastructure. Argonne’s early leadership showed an approach that has subsequently been adopted by other government labs and agencies, utilizing tools including AECOM’s Rosetta. Early Decarbonization planning led to IIJA-funding for Argonne’s waste heat recovery project. Carbon Management is a new paradigm at Argonne, helping redefine best-in-class approaches to energy and sustainability management in the coming decades.
INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP: Hydrofluorocarbon Policy Development
Congress, through the AIM Act, directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address the use of highly potent greenhouse gases—hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)—and lower their production and consumption in the United States by 85% over the next 15 years. ICF is recognized for supporting the EPA in developing guidelines for this accelerated timeline. ICF drew on its 30-plus year history supporting the EPA on Montreal Protocol implementation and dozens of prior decisions related to the phase-out and tracking of ozone-depleting substances and the management of HFCs. Once carried out, this global HFC phase-out is expected to eliminate up to 0.5° Celsius of global warming by 2100 and continue to protect the ozone layer. These efforts will help the United States to meet its obligations under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which was ratified by the United States in September 2022.
INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP: Disaster Response
Terracon for disaster leadership both before and after Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, 2021. In the days prior to landfall, Terracon’s Disaster Leadership Team was already working diligently to anticipate clients’ needs and bolster their resiliency. The process of approximating the storm’s path of damage, geographically staging instruments/equipment, assessing available qualified personnel, and preparing clients was underway. On the day after landfall, team members assessed the damage to Terracon offices and the homes of Terracon personnel, in addition to assessing the immediate needs of clients and partners. In all, 41 Terracon employees from 19 Terracon offices provided critical services such as: pre-renovation/demolition asbestos inspections; asbestos abatement designs and monitoring; healthcare infection controls; microbial remediation designs; and assessments for hazardous materials, indoor environmental quality, and moisture mapping. Following Ida, Terracon came to the aid of: 23 K-12 schools; 21 commercial properties, 16 banks, 11 hotels, and three shopping malls; two apartment complexes; and hospitals, universities, and government and telecommunication facilities.
