Challenge

A sustainability consulting firm that works with a cross-section of government agencies, commercial real estate developers, and architects noticed that climate action plans were regularly put to RFP with significant effort and resource put to developing the plans. However, after the lengthy and complex process to establish a climate action plan, they were rarely implemented. The typical requirements of a climate action plan were a long-term vision to reduce carbon emissions over time, but the plans took more time than the politicians promoting them had in office. The system was broken and creating stump speech content without creating environmental impact.

Solution

I curated a roundtable of top leaders in the Pacific Northwest to “hack” the climate action plan format. The value of the roundtable to the attendees was having intimate access to a diverse group of hard-to-reach CEOs, government officials, climate change experts, architects, and developers. The session was to be closed-door and biased toward action. The agenda was a guided workshop and with a free-form debate referencing key challenges to the status quo.

Result

The roundtable session identified previously underestimated limitations to climate action planning and connected influential industry leaders with a renewed focus on the fundamental changes needed to the process. Individuals responsible for government-issued RFPs were enlightened to new ways to approach climate action planning. An additional benefit was that the sustainability consultancy experienced an uplifted reputation for its ability to convene this diverse leadership council.