Every Friday morning, we have an all-team meeting that includes 15 mins of learning. "Learning" is a broad term that applies to personal topics of interest, local nonprofits telling us about their work, new sustainability start-ups, and Ted Talks we thought people might enjoy.

Every organization, regardless of industry or size, uses energy in one form or another. For decades, utility invoices were another bill to be paid and forgotten about, but as markets shift and evolve, energy consumption is becoming a vital metric to understand and track. We outline 4 reasons your organization should consider adopting an Energy Management System (EMS). Before we discuss that, though, what is an EMS?

Last month I had the opportunity to attend Fast Company's Innovation Festival in New York City. Over three days, I attended various panels, events, and interviews all focused on a specific dimension of business innovation. While it is fun to imagine tomorrow's great advancements, I left the festival focused more on today since that is – after all – where it all begins!

Maybe you've heard someone say, “we vote with our dollars.” The basic idea is this: we are told that - to be sustainable consumers - we should buy plant-based products that are compostable or recyclable where we live (insert any number of sustainable marketing terms here). It puts the onus on each person to use their purchasing power to drive climate change, one compostable product at a time.

We believe in the power of transparency to drive change. When companies are open, honest, and accurate about their ESG efforts, stakeholders can engage in improvement on all levels. Certifications and standards provide unifying frameworks for reporting these efforts, building accountability and consistency in the marketplace.

At Foresight, we love the adage, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Without actual data, you can’t make strategic decisions for the good of your company - and others agree. While there are a host of reporting frameworks for companies, the CDP is one of the most comprehensive frameworks with unique benefits. Because of its layered scoring structure, though, it can be challenging to get a “good score.” Here’s a look at how it works.

Architects work at the inflection point between investors and users or - more candidly put - between people and power. Enlisted to create spaces from voids, architects are quite literally shaping the future of communities. The adage holds, ”with great authority comes great responsibility”. Historically, dollars have driven the development of neighborhoods and cities.

On March 21, 2022, the SEC passed a rule called “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors” by a 3-1 vote. If you are looking for some good sleeping material, the 490-page document can be found here. This rule could have significant implications for companies listed on the stock market.

It’s not surprising that one of the most significant issues facing our world is energy security. As the turbulent global political climate continues to affect energy assurances, finding ways to guarantee consistent energy at an affordable price and in an environmentally conscious manner is at the forefront of many change-makers.

No matter where your company is in its sustainability journey, there has never been a better time to get a handle on your carbon emissions. Whether you’re stepping into this space for the first time or want to continue leading the pack, below is a decision tree to help advance your path forward.

As a learning-focused company with a culture of curiosity and human flourishing, Foresight Management has historically sought to build teams with diverse skillsets. The office halls are lined with information about each employee, ranging from their top 5 Clifton-Strengths and Enneagram numbers to their worst fears and favorite condiments. Foresight clearly focuses on celebrating our differences and providing varied support and opportunities for each person’s unique skillsets.

Bryan Newland, a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community (Ojibwe) in northern Michigan, stood up in front of a room full of mostly white men and said unapologetically, “the values, ethics, and wisdom you need to address climate change are alive and well within indigenous communities all across the country”. He went on to say, “We may not have a lot of advanced degrees (although some of us certainly do), but we know things”.

As a result of COVID increasing our attention towards global health, we've heard a lot about improving Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), despite not having new standards and little new technology for IEQ. At a recent ASHRAE conference, I listened to a keynote presentation in which the presenter said, “If we just maintained our buildings as they should be maintained, we'd see a dramatic improvement in IEQ.”

If you think of the major news stories of the past two years, some that come to mind include The Great Resignation, supply chain problems, chaotic energy prices, and genuine push for companies to be sustainable. Despite these stories being seemingly unrelated, there is a theme across all of them: Conscious Capitalism.

2021 was a year full of growth, innovation, and change at Foresight. In our 2020 recap newsletter, published last January, we wrote the following, “Over the last few years, our clients have steadily increased their focus on sustainable business practices. Several factors contributed to this trend, some of which include: the changing climate, an increased demand for transparency from financial markets, the shift from a shareholder economy to a stakeholder economy, and the increased value consumers have placed on how products are made. Since 2018, we’ve responded to this growing trend by adding services and expertise to support our clients’ sustainability goals and needs.” As we look back on 2021, these sentiments continue to ring true 12 months later, and in almost every respect they ring more emphatically than ever before.

If your organization has already begun accounting for its Scope 1 and 2 emissions, it might be time to brave the next step: inventorying your Scope 3. In a recent report released last month, investment research firm MSCI listed the top ten ESG trends to consider in 2022. What was #1 on the list? “Corporates Pushing Corporates for Net-Zero Supply Chains.” That’s right–supply chain decarbonization.

While I'm not an expert in lighting controls, I interact with them frequently as a part of our commissioning work. Throughout my many years of designing and troubleshooting buildings' functionality, I have repeatedly inquired about the commissioning of lighting controls. Way back, the “only” lighting system was daylighting; candles didn't work all that well for many activities. The only “controls” were drapes and shades.

Did you ever get yelled at by your parents to "Turn the lights OFF!" when you were a kid? I did. As an energy engineer as an adult, I wish I could have shown my kid-self the calculations on how much it really costs to leave the lights on.

We are excited to officially announce our recent acquisition of VIKRON Energy Solutions. For over ten years, VIKRON has provided natural gas consulting and brokerage services to large energy users throughout the United States.

To be at the forefront of climate and sustainability work is to envision an entire economic system that does not exist. Currently, CEOs are tasked with continual growth, keeping the lights on, and avoiding risks that upset operations. There isn't much room for envisioning or influencing an entire system, so sustainability solutions have traditionally been incremental and limited to existing frameworks.