The finalists for WashingtonExec’s 2023 Pinnacle Awards were announced Sept. 25, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person Nov. 16.
Next is Britt Harter, partner of sustainability consulting at Guidehouse, and finalist in the Climate Change Executive of the Year, Private Company category. Here, he shares his recent key achievements and focus areas going forward.
What key achievements did you have in 2023?
The Guidehouse sustainability and climate team brought cutting-edge climate change expertise from the private sector to all the corners of our global, 16,500-person management consulting firm in 2023.
2022 was a huge wake-up year for our clients to truly see climate as a key priority, while still getting their bearings around what needed to be done. For our team, that was a year of deep engagement understanding the unique climate sustainability needs of our clients across sectors, while continuing to support climate leaders who had been on the journey for years.
In 2023, we partnered with our clients to turn that climate awareness into action. We brought new climate support to government agencies, states, and large utilities on energy transition, Net Zero journey, ESG data transformation, and resilient communities. We worked with hundreds of organizations including SEC, Veterans Affairs, Mass General Brigham, H&M, Coca-Cola, and Prada.
We expanded the largest Scope 3 supply chain decarbonization program — The Supplier Leadership on Climate Transition — to 22 global brands and more than 700 supplier firms making tangible progress towards decarbonization. The program was presented at COP27 and NYC Climate Week.
We are helping the GSA buy 24/7 carbon-free electricity and engage the supply chain and industrial base on climate topics. We are solving complex climate challenges with tangible changes like delivering tangible investment for low carbon upgrades in the apparel supply chain across southeast Asia.
What are your primary focus areas going forward, and why are those so important to the future of the nation?
I’m focused on speed and scale with equity.
We know what we have to do to build resilient communities and infrastructure, while mitigating the worst impacts of climate change. And we have a transformative moment — a confluence of funding, regulatory momentum, and attention on climate. The IRA, the proposed SEC rules, and the global awareness of climate and resilience make it a top priority for executives and citizens.
But we have to seize this moment to make lasting change — delivering the energy transition and embedding climate into every organization. And that means executing effectively. In addition to great ideas, we need good data and technology systems, stakeholder and community engagement, strong program management, wise financial analysis, and strong compliance and oversight. We as a society can’t squander this moment to change the trajectory of our world.
And we have to deliver benefits of the climate to traditionally marginalized communities. I’m thrilled to see HUD, EPA, Federal agencies, states, and corporations moving from talk about equity to concrete action — driving real dollars and requirements.
Others have powerful climate and environmental justice programs like Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, Solar For All and Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP). But there is still so much more to do to ensure that the climate transition benefits and protects us all into the future.