Black & Veatch transform the energy industry by investing in renewables to innovate a sustainable future
Black & Veatch: Leading the Charge in Sustainable Energy Transition
Achieving an affordable and fair energy transition is a team pursuit. Yet, alongside urgent and meaningful collective action, individually we must recognize our legacy as well as our potential to create a better world.
“Why do flight attendants advise to put on our own oxygen mask first before assisting others?” asked Youssef Merjaneh, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, EMEA, Black & Veatch speaking on the sidelines of COP 28 in Dubai.
As a global engineering and construction company that has fast emerged as a leader in sustainable infrastructure, Black & Veatch’s own sustainability journey – like its own oxygen mask – has seen it make brave but difficult commercial decisions. In 2020, Black & Veatch exited the coal market, walking away from future revenue potential. It has since replaced that revenue potential through growth in renewables and through new bets in a growing hydrogen market. This bold action freed its talented workforce to focus on transforming the energy industry, helping its clients embark on decarbonization at scale.
“As well as doubling down on established solutions — energy storage, renewable energy, electric vehicle charging – that decision allowed us to focus on alternative sustainable fuels and opened doors with new clients throughout the world including here in the Middle East,” continued Merjaneh.
Expanding Horizons in Engineering: Black & Veatch’s Growth in Sustainable Construction
Black & Veatch is growing; its number of professionals grew by nearly 30 percent over the last eighteen months to meet the rapidly expanding global demand to design and construct sustainable infrastructure. Today, Black & Veatch is the only engineering and construction company delivering three active hydrogen projects. These include the Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES Delta Hub) Project which is the largest green hydrogen and production storage project in the world. The company is also working through almost 200 active hydrogen feasibility projects globally.
Part of Black & Veatch’s success in helping clients achieve their sustainability and decarbonization targets stems from its ability to work with industrial, commercial, utility, developer and government clients at every stage of the infrastructure lifecycle and across the entire value chain of technologies.
“From shaping the boardroom strategy and investment decisions right through to executable roadmaps and boots on the ground, we partner with clients along every step of their sustainability journey,” said Deepa Poduval, SVP, Global Sustainability Leader and Global Advisory Leader at Black & Veatch.
Shaping a Sustainable Future: Black & Veatch’s Approach to Energy and Infrastructure
For Poduval, COP28 reconfirms that sustainability has irreversibly evolved from a corporate responsibility to a critical ethical and business imperative. She believes organizations must reexamine traditional thinking of sustainability as a cost-based, zero-sum game, and embrace more holistic return-on-investment metrics and approaches.
Ultimately, the ability to deliver sustainable infrastructure, at scale, depends on partnerships combining full lifecycle solutions with the procuration of finance, especially for developing nations seeking a transition away from dependence on coal-fired power. The Climate Investment Funds’ Accelerating Coal Transition (ACT) investment program – first announced at COP26 – provides such a pathway and, as further proof of Black & Veatch’s own strategy in action, the company partnered with the Climate Investment Funds to develop these financial mechanisms announced in 2023 and discussed in detail at COP28.
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