Smart Energy Decisions published Caitlin Marquis' column about key issues in keeping corporate clean energy and sustainability programs going forward during the covid-19 crisis. Read excerpts below and the entire Smart Energy Decisions piece here. 

As companies adjust to a new normal during COVID-19, develop strategies to ride out the economic storm, and navigate various state reopening schedules and rules, sustainability teams face their own challenge: assessing whether and how the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout will affect progress toward their company’s renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals. 

As the nation confronts issues of race and justice, they may also be questioning whether social justice priorities are sufficiently ingrained in their corporate sustainability strategies...

For both, it may help to understand the pandemic’s short- and medium-term impact on the energy sector and what actions can—or should—be taken at the local, state, and national levels to achieve both sustainability and equity.

Since the pandemic started, Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) has focused its attention on how the pandemic is affecting the advanced energy industry and what solutions might stem the damage. Here, we offer observations on three topics: the impact of the pandemic, actions taken to date by decision-makers, and what lies ahead for an industry that is essential for companies to achieve their sustainability goals.

While the coronavirus pandemic is first and foremost a health crisis, it has brought with it an economic crisis that is affecting nearly every industry in one way or another. The energy sector has faced some unique challenges that have hit advanced energy companies—including renewable energy developers, energy efficiency providers, electric vehicle companies, and energy storage developers—especially hard, with potential implications for corporate sustainability efforts.  A few months in, there are some takeaways... [and some of top policy issues to watch and weigh in on]...

Read the entire Smart Energy Decisions piece here.