This week, we're digging into the energy transition and what it means for businesses, especially mid-market manufacturers and brands.

This podcast highlights that while the clean energy transition is undeniably accelerating globally, with huge growth in renewables, it's also facing significant challenges – think geopolitical shifts, economic volatility, and tricky, fragmented regulations.

For companies, ESG, or Environmental, Social, and Governance factors, are now central to strategy, but mid-market firms are particularly squeezed; they feel customer demand and regulatory pressure but often lack the resources of giants. Navigating this means tackling immense physical realities, from scaling up electric vehicles and heat pumps to managing grid capacity and finding critical minerals. The key takeaway? Despite political noise and complexities, inaction has a rising cost.

Companies are finding they must adapt strategically, focusing on what genuinely impacts their business value, managing risks, ensuring compliance with mandates (especially international and state-level) and investing in data. It's a call for pragmatic, evidence-based action.

Sources for this piece include: Original analysis by Third Partners, "5 things to know about the energy transition in 2025," by IMD.org, and "Ten physical realities the energy transition must tackle," by McKinsey Global Institute.

Adam Freedgood, Principal and Co-Founder of Third Partners, a leading sustainability consultancy, was on the ground in DC this week for the Better Buildings, Better Plants Summit by the U.S. Department of Energy. Freedgood shares what he heard, starting with insights on how U.S. energy policy, and the new administration's fossil fuel oriented goals, are clashing with the economic realities and sustainability-forward ambitions cases of American manufacturers and businesses. The summit was a positive, productive gathering of building energy professionals, scientists, engineers, corporate sustainability directors, city managers, real estate portfolio managers, and other stakeholders in the clean energy economy. Attendees shared strategies for successfully implementing advanced energy technologies that reduce operating costs and achieve sustainability goals, such as reducing GHG emissions. For more information on how the U.S. DOE partners with businesses, visit their website at: https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/better-plants

This briefing summarizes key themes and insights from an EHS Today article published in March 2025, written by Adam Freedgood, a sustainability consultant and co-founder at Third Partners. Freedgood analyzes the evolving intersection of Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) functions with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and corporate sustainability. The article highlights the significant impact of a new federal administration's reversal of certain ESG initiatives and the resulting volatility in the political, policy, and economic climates. It emphasizes the crucial role of EHS professionals in navigating this uncertainty, proactively managing risks, and identifying opportunities related to energy management, circularity, decarbonization, climate risks, supply chain sustainability, pollution reduction, and DEI. Freedgood underscores the importance for companies to reprioritize their sustainability efforts to focus on creating "shared value" by aligning societal needs, company capabilities, and corporate purpose.