The ICT industry provides the built environment with an essential service – our ability to communicate, as well as smarter solutions to reduce energy and carbon footprint through DC-powered microgrids and PoE technology. It’s been amazing to integrate into the BICSI community over the past 10 years and watch the conversation evolve. Data centers are the fastest-growing vertical, and hyperscalers recognize that due to their massive energy demand, they must be designed to operate efficiently and with the lowest embodied carbon possible. The iMasons Climate Accord is a fantastic example – working to streamline methods for sourcing low-carbon products to support sustainable data center design. We are seeing real cross-industry collaboration, co-creating tools with an ecosystem-level approach. By aligning around the Common Materials Framework, we can simplify sustainable product decision- making while keeping operational efficiency front and center. See the February 2026 issue of the BICSI Brief for part two of Annie Bevan’s interview with Elaine Kasperek.
organizations that are moving from reactive compliance to proactive responsibility – and by people like Annie Bevan, founder and CEO of Parallel Sustainability, a company dedicated to embedding sustainability staffing support across the built environment. She is also the president of mindful MATERIALS, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit accelerating sustainable materials’ decision-making at scale through the Common Materials Framework, the industry’s first common language for sustainable building products. With a foundation built on collaboration and accountability, Parallel helps bridge the gap between intention and action, especially in complex environments like construction, information and communications technology (ICT), and systems design. For the BICSI community, where ICT plays a pivotal role in shaping how we live and work, Annie’s insights offer a timely and practical perspective on how sustainability and infrastructure can work hand in hand. I sat down with Annie to explore what sustainability really means today, how collaboration among industry leaders – from organizations like the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), mindful MATERIALS, and BICSI – can drive deeper effect, and how aligning purpose with performance is essential to building a better future. Your company is rooted in sustainability, but what does sustainability in the built environment mean to you personally beyond the buzzword? I’ve had the opportunity to work in the built environment my entire career, collaborating with some amazing, intelligent, and talented people who design, build, or manufacture the products that make it possible. If you think about it, the product of the built environment is something we all need – shelter, a place to gather, to have comfort. With this essential need comes the largest, most impactful industry in the world, with 2.5 trillion square feet estimated to be built by 2050. Buildings need to be built, but there’s an opportunity to build them better – with
astronomical potential for impact reduction. We have the opportunity and the tools to do this, and it can be simple. That knowledge drives me every day to collaborate with stakeholders and organize community action to design, build, and manufacture smarter, working together to reduce our impact. Many industries are still figuring out how to embed sustainable thinking into everyday decision-making. How do you guide clients from conversation to transformation? Phew, I would say the building industry is still advancing in this work as well. There are many owners, developers, and AEC [architecture, engineering, and construction] organizations that have begun accelerating sustainable decision-making in procurement and specification processes, but it’s not automated – it’s still manual, often through spreadsheets. We’re seeing exciting leadership from firms like Gensler with [its] GPS program, as well as advancements in the LEED® rating system moving to V5. These efforts are accelerating demand for sustainable products, and many are now using the Common Materials Framework as the foundation for evaluating impact from manufacturers. At Parallel, we help manufacturers navigate this complex, ever-changing marketplace. We start by building a strategy to accelerate action, then implement sustainability initiatives across technical and brand communications. Finally, we connect those investments to customers who share the same values, turning sustainability into ROI through go-to-market services. It’s an exciting time, with so much momentum to reduce impact across the industry. Organizations like USGBC, mindful MATERIALS, and BICSI all influence the future of the built environment. How can collaboration between these groups drive sustainability deeper into the ICT community and beyond?
More than words from WOMEN BICSI in
Integrating Impact: Annie Bevan Talks Sustainability, ICT, and the Future of the Built Environment Interview conducted by Elaine Kasperek (part one of two) The built environment is at a critical turning point. As infrastructure and technology become increasingly intertwined, the demand for smarter, greener, and more adaptable solutions is reshaping how we think about buildings, spaces, and systems. In an industry often defined by concrete, cables, and steel, sustainability can no longer be an afterthought – it must be foundational. That shift is being led by forward-thinking
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