- April 22, 2025
- Kimley-Horn Corner
Caring for Communities and Clients: Kimley-Horn’s Commitment to Sustainability
At Kimley-Horn, we prioritize the future of our people, our clients, and our communities. At the heart of that is a commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship. Caring for the environment not only forms the backbone of our business model, it also allows our clients and partners to thrive. With every completed project and employee volunteer hour logged, we are improving the livability and resiliency of our communities.
As we think about what lies ahead, we envision a world where sustainable solutions aren’t just an option that we champion; they are the norm.
Will Wilhelm (Denver Downtown), PE, CFM, ENV SP, Sustainability Lead
“I'm excited for the future when we transition our infrastructure and built environment beyond sustainability to abundance, leaving things better than we found them. We have exciting times ahead to invent a better future.”
Take a look at a few areas where Kimley-Horn is putting these values to work.
Project Spotlights
More than 95% of our clients are engaged in sustainability-related initiatives, and Kimley-Horn is honored to partner with them to develop creative solutions. Not only are environmentally-friendly projects emerging areas of interest for our clients, but they also fall in line with our firm’s priorities of caring for our people and environment and working toward a collective good.
Mercedes-Benz Charging Hub
To make longer trips more accessible for electric vehicle (EV) users and promote EV adoption, we helped design the first Mercedes-Benz charging hub in North America, located in Sandy Springs, Georgia. In the growing EV market, we are setting visionary goals—ready to venture into the future with expertise for our clients.
Garnet Mesa Solar
Kimley-Horn provided expertise for a solar agrivoltaic facility, a space where agricultural land doubles as a solar energy site in a mutually beneficial relationship. Once completed, the Garnet Mesa Solar project in Delta County, Colorado, will simultaneously generate enough energy for 18,000 average homes per year and support almost 600 grazing sheep.
The Populus Hotel
Our civil designers and landscape architects were honored to contribute to the design of the United States’ first carbon-positive hotel. This visually stunning project, located in the heart of downtown Denver, Colorado, resulted in the unique 13-story Populus Hotel. The distinct triangle-unit space utilized recycled materials, employed a tree planting initiative, and opted to omit a
traditional parking garage to minimize carbon emissions.
Middle Fork Recreation Area
Following the degradation of the land from previous use, our team helped restore the stream and floodplain in the Middle Fork Recreation Area to a healthier state. Ultimately, the space in Madison County, Tennessee, became a state park complete with walking trails, lakes, boardwalks, and wildlife viewing areas. It was inspiring to have a hand in an intentional design that resulted in a truly enjoyable space for the local community.
Getting Our Hands Dirty
Our commitment to sustainability doesn’t stop with the positive impact of our projects—our people are hard at work in their neighborhoods volunteering, too.
The Kimley-Horn Foundation, which was established in 2000 to encourage volunteerism, awards financial aid to many employee-chosen organizations every year (including those that have environmentally-focused missions).
Claire Young, EI, a member of our renewable energy team, earned a Kimley-Horn Foundation grant two years in a row for the Chicago Lights Urban Farm.
“Volunteering with Chicago Lights Urban Farm is an outlet for me to engage in my community, connect with nature, learn about sustainable food production, and understand why our city is the way it is. Most importantly, I really do believe in their mission, and I love to see the impact their work has on the neighborhood.”
Claire Young, EI
Our people are passionate about investing in the health of the planet, in and out of the office, and we believe that drive will carry our communities into a healthier and more abundant future.
Looking Ahead
As a nationally recognized design firm, we consider it an honor to play such a vital role in helping design the future. As new markets emerge and a changing landscape demands innovation, our engineers will rise to the challenge using creativity, partnership, and honed technical expertise.
To learn more about Kimley-Horn’s broader sustainability initiatives and community partnerships, read our 2024 Responsibility Report.
