As we kick off the 2026 season, we invited our 2025 award recipients to reflect on how their teams are maintaining focus amid policy shifts, market volatility, and ongoing uncertainty. The responses below highlight strategies, values, and organizational approaches that are helping organizations stay the course while delivering measurable results.
HydroPoint is leaning into agility and long-term thinking.
See their 2025 Award-winning Environmental Impact Project for Kite Realty Group here.
"In a year marked by rollbacks and broader uncertainty, our team is staying focused on progress by remaining resilient, flexible, and ready to pivot when needed. We’re grounded in our mission, but agile in our approach—quickly adjusting strategies while continuing to deliver meaningful solutions for our customers.
By focusing on long-term impact and staying closely aligned with evolving market and environmental needs, we’re turning uncertainty into an opportunity to lead with purpose."
FranklinWH is navigating uncertainty by focusing on what they can control and delivering consistent customer value to the homeowners they serve.
See their 2025 Award-winning Environmental Impact Project here.
"The first half of 2025 has certainly had its macroeconomic challenges, including global tariffs, trade cases and the uncertainty of residential renewables incentives as part of the 2025 US Budget. We have addressed these non-controllable issues head-on by understanding the impact to our four main constituents (customers, employees, partners, and investors) and communicating as quickly as possible the impacts and recommended course of action.
We remain focused on what we can control, the quality of our solution and of the buyer experience. At FranklinWH we are keenly aware that our products and services add value to customers as energy freedom is in high demand. We remain committed to building our company one happy customer at a time."
DSD Renewables is adapting to market shifts by accelerating financing and expanding solar-plus-storage solutions.
See their 2025 Award-winning Energy Innovation Project for Caesars Atlantic City properties here.
"Even with the policy rollbacks and market volatility the industry has been experiencing, we remain confident in our ability to navigate and adapt to these challenges, just as we’ve successfully done in the past with things like regional policy shifts, tariffs, and supply constraints.
By focusing on offering flexible PPA agreements, accelerating project financing timelines, and prioritizing battery energy storage integration, we will continue to enable more solar projects that offer long-term value for our customers."
Uplight is helping utilities stay resilient by optimizing demand-side strategies and customer engagement.
See their 2025 Award-winning Software & Cloud entry here.
"With policy uncertainty and regulatory rollbacks in some areas, grid flexibility has been increasingly top of mind for utilities. Our team has remained focused on solving the fundamental challenges that utilities face to meet load growth, improve grid reliability, and reach decarbonization goals—leveraging customers as resources instead of solely building out new infrastructure."
Encamp is reinforcing automation and clarity for organizations as a counter to regulatory uncertainty.
See their 2025 Award-winning Software & Cloud entry here.
"At Encamp, we stay focused by returning to our core mission: simplifying environmental compliance and making it more accurate, transparent, and defensible.
In a year marked by regulatory rollbacks and policy whiplash, our team has doubled down on what we can control: automating complex compliance workflows, investing in our people, and continuously delivering value to our customers. While the regulatory ground shifts beneath their feet, environmental professionals don’t have the luxury of standing still. That’s when they need trusted partners and repeatable processes more than ever.
Rather than reacting or getting distracted by uncertainty, we stay grounded by listening closely to our customers. Many of the compliance leaders we support are under additional pressure to do more with less, maintain continuity across hundreds of facilities, and stay on top of changing regulations without sacrificing safety or accuracy. Their biggest challenge isn’t the existence of regulation—it’s the variability, and the lack of time and headcount to adapt quickly."
Redaptive emphasizes staying the course by focusing on customer success with their Energy-as-a-Service solution.
See their 2025 Award-winning Business & Infrastructure entry here.
"We’re staying focused by doing what we do best, turning energy challenges into measurable wins for our customers. In a year filled with uncertainty, it’s empowering to know that every building we upgrade or customer we finance brings us closer to a more resilient, cost-efficient, and sustainable future."
Carrier Abound is enabling customers to stay on track with energy goals through proactive building management.
See their 2025 award-winning Energy Innovation Project with a leading footwear retailer and Software Implementation Project with a national discount department store chain to learn more about Carrier Abound.
"In today's global macroeconomic climate, we see an unprecedented opportunity to lead.
We are supporting customers as we navigate the rollbacks together. We are focused on delivering outcomes for our customers – such as increasing energy savings through proactive energy management and enabling predictive maintenance.
Our customers have their emission reduction targets, some of which are due in a few years, some are for 2030 and so on. They are using our solutions to achieve the outcomes they need to deliver today and to stay on course to meet their targets."
Trane is leveraging localized expertise and data-driven systems to boost efficiency and emissions reduction.
See their three 2025 award-winning projects in sustainable building innovation, HVAC optimization, and strategic decarbonization partnerships.
"Our in-region manufacturing model promotes resilience, and the same principle applies to our people. Trane is backed by the strength of a global brand, combined with the expertise of local professionals across North America. Our regional teams bring invaluable insights and take pride in delivering innovative solutions tailored to specific local needs and regulations. This localized approach helps ensure that we remain agile and responsive amidst change.
Energy efficiency remains core to the thermal management and energy solutions we develop to support core business outcomes for our clients. Most buildings waste about 30% of the energy they pay for. Our customers continue to seek to improve their facilities, reduce costs, and reduce emissions, and we are committed to helping them achieve these goals."
These insights reflect the kind of behind-the-scenes work that’s often the hardest to measure—and the most deserving of recognition. That’s why the 2026 Environment+Energy Leader Awards now include Spotlight Categories honoring outstanding internal achievements:
If your company is doing the essential—but often overlooked—work of driving internal change, we invite you to enter and share your story.
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Environment+Energy Leader Awards, with expanded categories recognizing internal initiatives, innovation, and measurable external impact.
