2025 Environmental Business Journal and Climate Change Business Journal awards
Environmental Business International, Inc. and its awards selection committee recently announced winners of the 2025 Business Achievement Awards spanning the environmental and climate change industries. Entries in various categories are submitted to the award programs representing two separate publications: the Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) and the Climate Change Business Journal (CCBJ). Read more about the winning projects submitted by AECOM and on behalf of our clients below and in greater detail at EBJ and CCBJ.
Climate Change Business Journal awards
Innovating energy and carbon management for the world’s largest chemical company
Won by: AECOM and BASF
Award: CCBJ Consulting & Engineering – Sustainability Target Architecture Solution Implementation
AECOM partnered with BASF to deliver a global energy and carbon management solution that provides transparent, asset‑management solution that provides transparent, asset‑level GHG estimation to support Product Carbon Footprints. Using BASF’s STArS architecture building for data collection on Enablon, AECOM created a scalable, assurance-ready‑ready approach to automize data collection for CO2 emissions that can be rapidly deployed plant by plant. Three proof-of‑concept sites validated the method, enabling expansion across 550 plants worldwide, including Ludwigshafen. The solution automates significant parts of the data collection for GHG reporting, supports sustainable product design, reduces energy use and lowers operating costs. By combining advanced technology with strategic consulting, AECOM helped BASF to significantly increase efficiency in the processes and transform complex environmental data into actionable insights.
Building Brazil’s carbon future: A transformative national carbon certification program
Won by: AECOM, BNDES, Bradesco Bank and Ecogreen Fund
Award: CCBJ Consulting & Engineering – Carbon Certification Program for Brazil
ECORA is a national carbon credit certification program positioned to become a reference for Brazil and the Global South, strengthening trust and transparency while enabling market-wide growth. Structured through AECOM’s advisory program and formally launched in partnership with BNDES, Bradesco and the Ecogreen Fund at COP30, it enhances security and scalability in a sector that must grow 400 percent by 2030. Integrated with the Conservare Digital Platform, ECORA digitizes the full credit generation lifecycle — from feasibility to retirement — using geospatial analytics, predictive modeling and automated traceability. The solution reduces transaction costs, accelerates certification, and aligns methodologies and safeguards with Brazil’s diverse biomes, regulatory frameworks and socioenvironmental realities. By delivering high-integrity, locally tailored certification and expanding market access, ECORA attracts global investment and supports Brazil’s low carbon transition, demonstrating AECOM’s leadership in scaling climate solutions.
Environmental Business Journal Awards
Realigning the Lower San Acacia Reach: A model for sustainable river management in the Rio Grande watershed
Won by: AECOM
Award: EBJ Project Merit – Sustainability Model for Rio Grande Watershed
The Rio Grande watershed is critical for water users, ecosystems and recreation, but its highly dynamic channel has shifted significantly over the past century. To address challenges in the Lower San Acacia Reach — such as channel perching, conveyance losses and declining habitat — the Bureau of Reclamation is planning a 20-mile river realignment south of Socorro, NM that works with natural geomorphic trends to improve water delivery, enhance ecosystem health and reduce long-term maintenance. AECOM is supporting a four-year environmental program with robust stakeholder engagement and regulatory compliance, producing key analyses including a 2024 geomorphology and alternatives report and a 2025 Draft Environmental Impact Statement. This forward-looking effort integrates engineering, science and collaboration to strengthen river resilience, mile river realignment south of Socorro, NM that works with natural geomorphic trends to improve water delivery, enhance ecosystem health, and reduce long‑term maintenance. AECOM is supporting a four‑year environmental program with robust stakeholder engagement and regulatory compliance, producing key analyses including a 2024 geomorphology and alternatives report and a 2025 Draft Environmental Impact Statement. This forward‑looking effort integrates engineering, science, and collaboration to strengthen river resilience.
Closing the loop on PFAS: Advanced technology for ARFF vehicle decontamination
Won by: AECOM, TRS Group, Inc., Denver International Airport
Award: EBJ Technology Merit Awards – PFAS Decontamination
Airports face growing PFAS contamination challenges from decades of AFFF use, intensified by the EPA’s 2024 designation of PFOA and PFOS as CERCLA hazardous substances. Denver International Airport, with AECOM and TRS Group, implemented a groundbreaking closed-loop cleaning system to decontaminate ARFF vehicles, circulating heated water and cleaning agents through foam systems on each vehicle. After three to five cycles, PFAS levels dropped an average of 98.72 percent, enabling safe conversion to fluorine-free foam without replacing vehicles and saving millions in equipment costs. A total of 20 firefighting vehicles were cleaned, supported by SOP development, rigorous sampling, and validation of analytical results. This innovative, repeatable approach sets a national precedent for cost-effective PFAS remediation and regulatory compliance.
Leading the charge in post-wildfire environmental recovery
Won by: AECOM and ECC for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Award: EBJ Industry Leadership – Post-Wildfire Rapid Environmental Recovery
After the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led a six-month recovery effort that cleared more than 12,000 parcels, enabling communities to rebuild while safely managing hazards such as asbestos, lead and lithium batteries without harming wildlife or cultural resources. The team’s custom mobile and GIS-enabled apps streamlined more than 27,000 biological and archaeological monitoring forms, reducing errors and accelerating clearance through real-time digital reporting. Working long hours, crews recovered artifacts and documented historic structures, preserving cultural heritage, while the program also provided hands-on training for recent graduates through mentorship with senior experts. This effort set a national standard for innovative, coordinated and resilience-focused disaster recovery.
Klamath Dam removal project
Won by: RES
Award: EBJ Project Merit – Large-Scale River Restoration
When four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River were deemed environmentally and economically unsustainable, a diverse coalition — led by Tribes — advanced the landmark 2016 Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, creating the Klamath River Renewal Corporation to deliver the largest dam removal project in history. The final dam came down in October 2024, and by fall 2025 over 10,000 Chinook salmon had returned to the upper basin. The project restored habitat, reconnected floodplains, improved tribal subsistence resources, created public access to world‑class whitewater, and will return 2,000 acres to the Shasta Indian Nation. AECOM ensured federal cultural resource compliance, protected cultural sites, and supported listing part of Kikacéki on the National Register.
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