By: Cameron Bard

WHY IT MATTERS: 83% of businesses with stated sustainability goals are not on track to meet them. Under-staffed, under-resourced, and facing a fragmented market of consultants, developers, and individual vendors, sustainability leaders are operating in a complex and demanding environment.

THE BACKSTORY: We have entered a new reality: our economy is hungrier for more power than we have been in decades, and we’re struggling to keep up.

• Due to a resurgence in domestic manufacturing, increased EV adoption, electrification of buildings and industrial processes, and the energy needed to support new data centers and the rise of AI, overall energy demand growth is outpacing supply.
• US electricity prices are outstripping the rate of inflation, with little relief in sight.
• Meanwhile, clean energy deployment is supercharging past previous highs.
• We are facing a multitude of converging trends, including historic load growth, spiking energy costs, record-breaking clean energy deployment, and corporate sustainability efforts falling well short of desired outcomes.
• Combined, today’s energy landscape creates challenges for organizational leaders pursuing tenacious energy agendas and opportunities for creative problem solving.

THE BIG PICTURE: It is against this backdrop that we launched MEI+, a comprehensive program designed to help leading organizations transform ambitious sustainability goals into reality.

• This effort is the culmination of our team’s organic growth and deep experience building a diverse network of partners and deploying hundreds of projects over many years for business leaders across cold storage, commercial real estate, retail, education, and other sectors.
• We believe MEI+ offers a highly unique and compelling value proposition with access to an unparalleled ecosystem of clean energy infrastructure projects and services.
• From onsite solar, energy storage, and community solar to offsite generation, EV charging, tax equity advisory, sustainability reporting and more, we are assisting clients with an unmatched variety of resources, technologies, and services.
• MEI+ begins with a consultative approach, fusing a deep understanding of our clients’ goals with site- and portfolio-specific financial insights and analysis to create a business plan and actionable roadmap.
• From there, decisions become straightforward and evidence-based—prioritization is made simple based on clear cost/benefit analysis and impact evaluation.

GO DEEPER: The need to think differently doesn’t just apply to our customers and partners— to operate in today’s environment and put points on the board requires our own organization to grow and adapt. We do this by following three basic tenets:

Start with the challenge and work backwards to the solution. We have been obsessed with our customers and partners since day one of our business.

• As Rich noted last month, we readily acknowledge that Jeff Bezos’ quote about his own enterprise applies here, too, “We don’t have a single big advantage, so we have to weave a rope of many small advantages.”
• We approach MEI+ and our client engagements with the same humility— the rope begins with an exploration and complete embrace of the specific challenges and motivations of our customers and partners.
• Beyond goal achievement, what else motivates your business? What stubborn or pernicious issues, big or small, are particularly painful? What corporate priorities are not included in your annual sustainability report?
• Surveying the broader clean energy landscape, we too often see “hammers looking for nails”, companies showing up to their prospective client’s office with a one-size-fits-all approach to distributed generation. Roof, meet solar.
• We try to flip this dynamic on its head by starting with our customer and their specified challenges to then work backwards to identify the most impactful, tailored solutions, wherever they maybe.

Create a team with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. We’ve built a team of experts, operators, and strategists from different and seemingly disconnected fields, recognizing the diversity of our specialties, perspectives, and experiences makes us stronger, not weaker.

From former McKinsey consultants, SpaceX engineers, and public policymakers to award-winning marketers, financial analysts, and best-in-class construction managers, our operations are fueled by creativity and knowledge forged both within the energy industry and well outside it.

• We encourage a culture of shared responsibility, where team members understand that their involvement extends beyond their specific role or department.
• We replace the term “handoffs” with “kickoffs”at every link within our organization to eliminate the notion of transferred responsibility.
• The three most dangerous words for any team—Not my problem—are not tolerated here, a value reinforced by our cross-functional organization and “We’ve got your back” culture.
• The same thinking is applied to our partners and customers—our projects are built to last decades and our aligned incentives to provide exceptional service are features not bugs.

Emphasize honesty and open-mindedness. The consultative approach of MEI+ demands a higher degree of comfort with the gray area and a willingness to trust the process. We are championing an entrepreneurial spirit as we set out to solve our clients’ needs, even if that takes us in new and different directions.

• Howard Schultz former ceo and chairman emeritus of Starbucks—titles intentionally lowercase—was known to obsess over the coffee company’s customers and their evolving preferences.
• Schultz recently said, “So much of Starbucks’ success came from customers asking for things we weren’t doing.”
• When it comes to tackling ambitious sustainability goals—especially those established years ago and without clear, tactical roadmaps—it is vital we approach potential future pathways with open-mindedness and flexibility.
• This ethos is at the heart of MEI+ and the clean energy ecosystem we are building for and by our customers and partners.
• Our flywheel of developing new skills, entering new markets, engaging new customers and partners, deploying new infrastructure solutions and services, financing and operating assets, supporting ambitious goal achievement, gaining new data and learnings, and finally, repeating this cycle over and over and over creates enormous impact and value for all stakeholders involved.
• We cannot achieve this vision without honesty about what is possible and open-mindedness on how we get there, together.

THE BOTTOM LINE: We must think differently if we are to achieve the ambitious sustainability goals we have collectively set out for ourselves. The combination of historic load growth, rising energy costs and volatility, and a sustained, upward trajectory for clean energy creates a high-impact opportunity for change. For business leaders seeking to capitalize on this moment, MEI+ offers a profound departure from the status quo.

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