Security leaders often struggle to communicate how well they are performing. Similarly, to justify new investments, budget increases, or ongoing costs, security teams find it difficult to articulate the value of security investments. It is not enough to claim we prevented something bad from happening.
Over the past few years, diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives have moved from basic compliance reporting to business-critical strategies that unlock workforce potential and deepen the connection with customers. Keep in mind that D&I encompasses a wide range of employee characteristics, including age, race, gender, sexual orientation, sense of belonging, fit with company culture, experience, capabilities, and more. While we have moved beyond simply tracking a handful of basic demographic measures, people data continues to serve as a critical element for any D&I program. After all, it is hard to know where to go with your D&I program if it isn’t clear where you are today as an organization or where you’ve been.
Energy efficiency (EE) programs, which have been a staple of utility services for many years, are receiving renewed focus. Specifically, EE not only provides savings to customers, but it is increasingly seen as a necessary tool to achieve ambitious carbon-reduction goals. In these cases, utilities are facing a significant ramp-up in both EE targets and budgets, prompting them to ask how to approach increasing the scale and scope of programs.
With the transportation sector accounting for the largest portion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States,[1] meeting state, local, and corporate GHG emissions targets will require businesses operating fleets to proactively adopt electric vehicles (EV). With this in mind, companies are beginning to pursue electrification, including halting procurement of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and planning for the considerable charging infrastructure, business model impacts, and personnel changes required to operate an electric fleet.
As decarbonization efforts have proliferated, electric vehicles (EVs) are widely seen as essential to meeting state and local clean energy goals. However, in order to meet the charging needs of EVs, significant charging infrastructure will need to be developed. As states and regulators consider how to foster EV adoption, make-ready programs have emerged as an increasingly popular option. As of March 2021, 15 utilities across the United States have announced make-ready programs with a collective budget of more than $1 billion.
The prevalence of corporate reporting on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics has grown substantially over the past nine years. In 2019, 90% of companies in the S&P 500 published some form of sustainability report, up from a mere 20% in 2011.[1] This increase in reporting has largely been driven by expanded focus from the financial community (e.g., equity investors, debt holders/creditors, insurance companies, etc.) on ESG performance data to better understand the risks and opportunities of specific companies/industries that could impact financial performance. Other stakeholders, such as employees, vendors, and government entities, are also seeking ESG data to evaluate company performance on the topics they view of greatest importance (e.g., diversity of workforce, impact of operations on the local community, etc.).
For more than a decade, nuclear operators have faced an uphill battle to compete with low natural gas prices and increasing renewable generation. Plants have been focused on reducing operating expenses to manage costs and compete in bid-based and regulated markets. As we shared in the article, “While You Were Sleeping: The Unnoticed Loss of Carbon-Free Generation in the United States,” the early retirement of at-risk nuclear plants may give back gains in carbon-free generation from new wind and solar. There is increasing urgency for nuclear plants to increase profitability and avoid premature decommissioning.
President Joe Biden is expected to pursue an “all-of-government” approach to climate change. The incoming administration is expected to move as swiftly as possible on an agenda that modifies or reverses the policies of the Trump administration. Many of these changes were signaled in the Biden campaign’s Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force Recommendations, released last August, and other initiatives announced during the campaign.
As clean energy standards and net-zero commitments accelerate across the United States, utilities and other stakeholders are focusing on the transmission challenges associated with achieving these aggressive goals. Indeed, a robust long-haul high-voltage transmission backbone is the linchpin in our energy transition. Integrating large amounts of renewables (on the order of $11 trillion by 2050 per the latest analysis from BNEF) will require significant additional investments in transmission. But identifying the right transmission investments in the right locations, at the right scale, can deliver benefits far exceeding the cost of such investments.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced healthcare human resources (HR) teams to flex policies, processes, programs, and resources to adapt to operational changes. For example, healthcare HR organizations have experienced increases in call volumes related to furlough, benefit, and leave questions; increased data changes to process organizational shifts; and communications to accommodate new workplace rules. Healthcare HR organizations with strong operating models adapted better and quicker to manage these shifts and mitigate associated risks. Foundational operating model elements that enabled these HR organizations to excel during this time of disruption include an optimized service delivery model, standardized policies, processes, and programs, metrics, workforce planning, and workforce management.
Cryptocurrency mining is profitable when the cost of the primary production resource needed to mine it is low. Electricity accounts for upwards of 80% of total O&M spending in a typical-mining operation. For this reason, bitcoin miners circle the globe searching for $0.06/kWh. How much more appealing would the cryptocurrency mining business be if the power was acquired at cost?
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