2026 AEC trends (Part 1): Nature-based solutions and improving the grid to deliver power

Looking at 2026 through the environmental lens

Dom Kempson, vice president, Environmental Services

As much as things change, they stay the same. While we’ve seen political shifts in the US, many clients across the globe remain focused on nature-positive outcomes. They want to operate in ways that protect the environment—and not only because regulations require it.

And that’s the overarching theme as we look to 2026 and beyond. I’d say the three big areas of focus in the environmental world are:

1. More adoption of nature-based solutions
2. Truth and defensibility in measuring and reporting
3. Using technology in new and exciting ways

Let’s dig into each of them.

1. Nature-based solutions are here to stay

Nature-based solutions (NbS) encompass a huge range of environmental work. In the simplest terms, it’s about leveraging the natural functions of forests, wetlands, grasslands, shorelines, and more. But as the name implies, it’s using nature as the solution. 

And NbS is central to corporate climate and resilience strategies. What we’re seeing in 2026 is that NbS are long-term climate and business investments, not just for public relations or regulatory mitigation requirements.

For most of our clients, it’s a focus on nature-positive approaches.

Here’s an example: let’s say you’re a pharmaceutical company. Clean water resources are critical to your company, because you use a lot of water. You need a long-term supply—and that can come from many sources. But the water needs to be there, and it needs to be clean.

So, from a business perspective, leaning into the long-term protection of those resources is really important.

Nature-based solutions are the answer to many of the challenges we face.

Regardless of regulatory requirements, companies need to be friendly to the environment—from a business perspective. It can affect their stock price. It can change who invests in their company. It can impact the long-term operations and material resources they need now and in the future.

What I’m really excited about in 2026 is seeing NbS more involved from the outset of projects, rather than retrofitting them later.

Let’s say you need to build a new facility in a coastal area. You know it will need coastal protection. The old way: fix an old seawall. The new way: a nature-based approach.

NbS is increasingly used in hybrid engineering solutions. Examples include:

• Blue‑Green Corridors integrating hydrology and ecological design
• Coastal dune systems replacing (or complementing) gray infrastructure like seawalls
• Wetlands used for wastewater polishing
• Urban stream “rewilding” projects producing both ecological and community benefits

I’m eager to see our teams sitting at the table from the start to discuss these and other options.

2. An emphasis on truth and defensibility in measuring and reporting

This is where the rubber hits the road. Greenwashing is real. If you spin information a certain way, it looks much better than reality.

There are a lot of black boxes out there that model biodiversity. They’ll say, “Okay, if you want to report your biodiversity score went from a five to a nine, there’s a way to do that.”

But what does it mean to the average person? Somewhere between nothing and nothing at all, right? Whether you’re reporting it officially or just communicating it, you need to clearly articulate how you arrived at those numbers.

That means we need transparent, simple, and credible methods for measuring and reporting biodiversity and ecological outcomes. This allows clients to report this information with confidence.

Some of our major tech clients are doing this. And we’re talking to industrial clients, too. It’s a focus on natural capital investment—with quantified impacts and returns.

How do you do it?

Here’s an example. Say you’re an industrial client with 100 acres of degraded farmland adjacent to your facility. You invested in the environment and restored the hydrology. It created 50 acres of wetlands, 25 acres of marsh, and 25 acres of upland woodlands.

Now, it’s time to measure and report what you—the industrial company—did. Our team will give you the maps. We’ll give you the plant lists. We’ll provide the drone footage and photographs. Now you can confidently and clearly tell your investors, your customers, whoever: This is what we did.

It’s the opposite of greenwashing. And it’s the future.

3. Using technology in new and exciting ways

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere. And everything is AI—all the time.

Does it have a place in the world of environmental sciences? Of course.

But, for me, the more interesting thing is taking technology that exists today and packaging it differently. And then we do something with it that maybe it wasn’t specifically intended for.

For example, we’re working with underwater autonomous vehicles. The technology allows us to do extremely high-resolution scanning. So, maybe the item we want to scan is 250 or 300 feet underwater. The scans can let us see it in new and more informative ways.

And on the way to the survey site, we can collect eDNA samples from the water column. It offers a way to get broad, scalable biodiversity monitoring. What a powerful way to learn about the underwater environment—without getting wet.

Above the water, drone technology is growing more powerful, too.

Whether it’s delivering pelletized seeds to restore native landscapes or loading these larger drones with herbicides, we’re using it in new ways.

For example, with herbicides, we can program the drone to fly automatically to the correct location using GPS. There, it will deploy its payload with centimetre-level accuracy. It eliminates pilot error. The tech won’t release the herbicide unless it’s in exactly the right location.

At this point, drone technology isn’t new. But having these widgets we can adjust, makes it a “different” technology—under the water or in the air.

For 2026, it’s about options

Of course, I’m looking at 2026 through the lens of nature-based solutions. But the environment is about much more than that.

My colleagues—engineers, landscape architects, surveyors, scientists, cultural resource specialists, and more—are keeping busy supporting our NbS opportunities and beyond, including health sciences, ESG advisory, cultural resources, and more.

We work across all business lines, sectors, and geographies to deliver nature-based alternative solutions to our clients. It’s thrilling to see what we can do together—in 2026 and beyond.

Looking at 2026 through the energy lens

Bryan Schurko, sector leader, Power Delivery

Electricity powers our lives, our communities, and our economy. We expect the lights to come on when we flip the switch. We expect our hospitals to stay running, our homes to stay warm (or cool), and our networks to stay connected.

But meeting those expectations isn’t easy. The grid is the most complex machine we’ve ever built. And right now, it’s under pressure like never before. We’re seeing growth rates we haven’t experienced in decades, and the demands on our infrastructure are only increasing.

So, what does that mean for 2026 and the years ahead?

Here are three big challenges we need to keep our eyes on:

1. Large load connections and the need for major transmission grid expansion
2. Grid resiliency in the face of extreme weather and emerging threats
3. A widening workforce gap in the power sector

There’s more, of course. But these three are front and center. Let’s take a closer look at what they mean and what we can do about them.

1. Large loads and their impact on the transmission grid

When we talk about the transmission grid today, we must acknowledge the impact that data centers are having. It’s massive.

Major tech companies, hyperscalers, and developers are planning data centers at a scale we haven’t seen before, including facilities and campuses that exceed 1 gigawatt (GW) of demand. To put that in perspective, the City of Chicago requires roughly 4 GW of capacity (on average). That means a single data center could consume a quarter of the power needed to run one of the largest cities in the country. In many cases, these facilities are larger than the total load of a small city.

It’s not just data centers contributing to the growth. Electrification, rising populations, industrial development, and new technologies are all pushing demand higher across the country. For decades, we saw electricity demand grow approximately 1 percent per year. Now, some forecasts are projecting annual growth of 3 percent or more— something we haven’t seen in generations.

Generating that power is one challenge, but getting those electrons from their generation facility to the end user is a massive limiting factor. The reality is our aging power grid doesn’t have the capacity to handle the growth that’s coming.

Building new transmission infrastructure is a long process. From planning and permitting to construction and operation, it can take up to 10 years or more to bring a major project online. Supply chain constraints, environmental reviews, and local permitting hurdles all add additional time and complexity to these projects.

So how do we move faster?

We need to push for legislative and regulatory reforms, especially around permitting. We also need to invest in advanced and emerging technologies that can help us get more out of the infrastructure we already have. That includes reconductoring existing lines with higher-capacity conductors, deploying advanced control systems, and using other grid-enhancing technologies to unlock capacity.

At the same time, we should be looking at more localized and behind-the-meter solutions. Solar power, thermal generation, and battery storage—to name a few—can help reduce strain on the existing transmission system.

No single solution is enough. It’s going to take a coordinated effort across industries, utilities, regulators, and communities. But if we want to meet the demands of the next decade, we need to start now.

2. Grid resiliency in the face of extreme weather events (and emerging threats)

Grid resiliency and reliability will remain a top priority for utilities across the country.

Extreme weather events are no longer rare. They’re more intense, more frequent, and more damaging. Hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and even earthquakes are testing the limits of our infrastructure. How do we keep up with these growing threats? And how are utilities and regulators investing to strengthen the system?

We know this is a major focus. More than 70 percent of the US power grid is over 25 years old. That makes modernization, resiliency, and reliability not just important but urgent.

People often ask, “Why not just put all the lines underground?” In theory, that sounds like a simple fix. But in reality, it’s not that easy. Firstly, the cost is massive. But we also don’t have the labor force, materials, or equipment to support that kind of buildout at scale.

Instead, we’re improving the grid in several ways:

• Raising substations above flood levels
• Hardening overhead transmission and distribution infrastructure
• Undergrounding distribution lines (where it makes sense)
• Implementing covered conductor programs to reduce wildfire risk
• Strengthening cybersecurity protocols

Regional needs differ. In Florida, the focus is on hurricanes and storm surge. That means raising substations, reinforcing poles and lines, and undergrounding where we can. In California, the priority is wildfire mitigation—covering conductors, clearing vegetation, and putting lines underground in high-risk areas.

Cybersecurity is another critical piece. We’re seeing double-digit increases in cyberattacks year over year, including ransomware and other threats targeting the grid. It’s not just physical threats we need to prepare for anymore.

Most of these solutions aren’t new; they’re not flashy, but they work. And like transmission expansion, they face the same headwinds—permitting delays, supply chain constraints, labor shortages, and the cost burden on ratepayers. It’s a tough balance. But it’s one we must keep pushing through, not just this year, but for the long haul.

3. Workforce challenges and leveraging AI

There’s a growing gap in engineering skills and experience across many traditional sectors. But it’s especially pronounced in the power industry.

This isn’t something we can just engineer our way out of. It’s a challenge we need to face head-on—and fast.

There’s a real difference between what a “senior engineer” meant 20 years ago and what it means today. A lot of the folks retiring now have spent their entire careers working on the power system. That deep, hands-on knowledge doesn’t come easy, and once it walks out the door, it’s tough to replace.

At the same time, many younger engineers are choosing other industries—such as tech, software, and startups. And who can blame them? For years, the power sector wasn’t growing. Big projects were few and far between. It didn’t have the same pull. That’s changing now, but we’re playing catch-up.

As industry leaders, how do we address this gap and train the next generation of engineers, designers, project managers and others?  These skills aren’t obtained overnight but rather through years of design lessons, construction experience, and mentoring.

We must rethink our ability not just to onboard, train, and mentor but also to attract the best talent. New methods must be used, including leveraging AI as a training tool and design assistant. The reality is that AI use will continue to grow in our industry. It won’t be a replacement but rather an augmentation of human decisions to improve speed, quality, and safety. It’s like the saying goes: AI won’t replace all workers, but workers who don’t use AI might get left behind.

Still, that’s just one piece of the puzzle. Building a transmission line, for example, means working with landowners, regulators, utilities, communities, and many other interested parties. It takes experience, judgment, and people skills. AI simply can’t do all of that.

That’s why we need to keep investing in people by training, mentoring, and building up the next generation of power professionals.

For 2026, it’s about continuing momentum

Large power delivery projects like an Extra High Voltage (EHV) transmission line are on 10-year timelines. We shouldn’t expect massive change in 2026. But amping up grid modernization, strengthening grid resiliency, and investing in our people are essential steps.

I’ve been working in power delivery for 20 years. Never in my lifetime have we seen an inflection point like this. The work we do in 2026 will be pivotal for the future of our grid for decades to come.