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June 12, 2025
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In the early hours of August 30, 2023, Hurricane Idalia made its first landfall in the Big Bend region of western Florida. Over the following 48 hours, the Category 3 storm ravaged Florida’s Gulf Coast and Georgia’s southern border before eventually moving up into the Carolinas. Winds that reached around 125 miles per hour devastated local homes, businesses, vehicles and everything else in its path as it tore through the region.
Hurricane Idalia was the strongest storm to hit the region in more than 125 years, leaving an estimated $20 billion in damages in its wake.
Yet Idalia’s projected financial impact is a fraction of Hurricane Ian’s nearly $60 billion in damages from 2022 and is just the most recent of 23 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2023. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2023 set a new record for billion-dollar disasters in a single year in just eight months.
The unfortunate reality is that these extreme weather events can no longer be categorized simply as “once-in-a-lifetime” occurrences. It’s no coincidence that these natural disasters are striking at a growing frequency year after year and that climate change’s role in such disasters will only continue to rise as inaction to properly address it perpetuates.
We’re at a crucial moment in our history where a shift in narrative isn’t just sensible—it’s imperative. Unless meaningful and impactful changes are made, these disasters are only going to become more extreme and more devastating for the communities that are affected.
Public and private organizations, from school systems and businesses to healthcare facilities and government offices, will need to have the proper infrastructure in place to be prepared for what our future currently portends. Sustainable, energy-resilient technology such as distributed generation systems can play a significant role in easing the transition from traditional, centralized energy networks to renewable sources of clean energy.
However, adopting these technologies takes more than just incorporating tools and products; it requires a transformative shift in the way an organization operates. Effectively and successfully incorporating a renewable energy infrastructure starts with adopting sustainability as a core value of the organization. Through education and awareness initiatives, ensuring organizational alignment from leadership to employees and key stakeholders on sustainability goals is an important first step in beginning the clean-energy transition.
Then, by establishing baseline values for energy and emissions under the current operational structure, an organization can assess and set milestones to guide it toward achieving its goal. By determining where the organization stands in regard to its current energy consumption, it can begin to develop a roadmap and budget for how it can set out to achieve its sustainability goals. Whether through the implementation of solar panels or switching to a geothermal heating and cooling system, the strategic milestones should reflect the organization’s near-term, mid-term and long-term goals, with each focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Working with an experienced energy partner to assist in retrofitting and updating the organization’s infrastructure can help ease the transition as well as ensure the successful delivery of the overall project. However, even after the new efficient energy structure is in place, an organization must continuously monitor, analyze and adjust its mid-term and long-term strategies to make the journey to net zero emissions a reality.
Still, getting to this point isn’t without its challenges. According to a report from the World Wildlife Fund and Carbon Disclosure Project, there are three main barriers for companies and organizations seeking to move forward with climate protection initiatives: lack of expertise, access to capital and lack of management attention.
Organizations could look to outsource the complexity of this process through the help of a strategic partner operating within an energy-as-a-service (EaaS) model and work hand in hand with a solutions provider to develop a net-zero and resiliency strategy tailored to the unique needs of that organization.
If now still isn’t the time to transition to these cleaner, energy-resilient solutions, then when will it be? Our climate and weather patterns have clearly responded to our current global output of carbon and greenhouse gasses, and unless change is made, that response is only going to get louder. It’s time for us to respond firmly and resolutely and continue to take the necessary steps to reach zero emissions by 2050—if not sooner.
# Originally published on Forbes.com via Forbes Technology Council. #
This free resource provides a tangible roadmap for organizations looking to reduce their carbon footprint and achieve net zero emissions. The built environment is responsible for roughly 40% of energy-related carbon emissions. This resource offers a holistic approach to cutting consumption, costs, and carbon and practical solutions for facility owners and operators.
