Confronted by the climate emergency, organizations must not only reduce their emissions but also adapt to the impacts of climate change.
This demanding situation is the backdrop for Christophe Jenkins, an expert in climate change mitigation and adaptation who plays a key role at CIMA+. He helps clients understand their climate risks, structure their decarbonization efforts, and develop bespoke adaptation plans, thanks to his strategic expertise. His diverse experience enables him to advise clients through the uncertainty and rapidly changing requirements of sustainable development.
Thanks to his rigorous approaches aligned with business objectives, Christophe helps transform environmental challenges into concrete levers for action for a sustainable and resilient transition.
What value guides you most in your professional life, and how does it manifest itself in your daily life?
Throughout my career, it has been particularly important for me to know that my work can contribute to improving things and have a real positive impact on society. By society, I mean communities— but also businesses, which I consider to be responsible corporate citizens— as well as my colleagues at CIMA+ and our business partners. For me, making an impact means contributing to meaningful projects that create environmental, social and human value.
In my daily life, this value translates into several things: first, I always strive to fully understand clients' needs and the contexts in which they operate, so that I can propose solutions that make a real difference— not ones that just look good on paper. I also pay close attention to the quality of communications: I want our messages to be clear, inspiring and enable teams and decision-makers to take action. Lastly, I am a strong believer in cross-sector collaboration. You can't make an impact on your own. I like to build bridges between areas of expertise, sectors, and even ways of thinking— particularly by integrating Indigenous knowledge or real-life situations into technical or strategic approaches. This is all the more essential given that the major challenges related to climate change and, more broadly, sustainable development, cannot be addressed without a multidisciplinary and collective approach. These are complex issues that require a combination of perspectives in order to design truly effective and sustainable solutions.
How did your professional background lead you to specialize in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and how does this expertise apply to your role at CIMA+?
It all started during my bachelor's degree internship in biology, where I designed and carried out a research project at the Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM) from start to finish, aimed at developing a greenhouse gas emission factor specific to the Canadian context for off-site peat moss decomposition. To create the methodology, I read a large part of the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guide for National Inventories. I then attended several conferences on the role of peatlands in carbon capture and storage.
This sparked my interest in climate issues, both in terms of emissions quantification and climate projections, due to the great complexity of these areas and their immense potential to generate a positive impact.
My subsequent work experiences have always revolved around reducing environmental impact, both at the federal level and while working at Hydro-Québec, until I co-founded Essor Environnement. One of the firm's first mandates was to develop the adaptation plan for the City of Beaconsfield as a subcontractor for Climate solutions accelerator (CCG Climat). In fact, I have simply never stopped working on climate-related projects since then!
What are the main challenges you face when developing decarbonization strategies for clients, and how does CIMA+ help overcome them?
If the goal is to develop concrete, high-quality plans, these can be extremely complex consulting projects. We have to strike a balance between our values for a net-zero economy (zero GHG), our clients' ambitions, the limitations of interconnected systems, our clients' financial constraints and the project budget. First, we need to thoroughly understand how the client's process, building and operations work, and I am very happy to be able to count on the expertise of our various CIMA+ engineering teams to achieve this! My colleagues are always enthusiastic about working on such projects, and it is a priority for me to include sector expertise in each of our projects for added value, which makes the decarbonization plan pragmatic. Let's be honest: decarbonization generally comes with a green premium, i.e. an additional cost associated with more sustainable solutions. The best time to think about developing a net-zero project is at the very beginning of the design phase. Once the infrastructure, building or process is up and running, modifying it to make it carbon neutral requires major capital investments , and this often comes with an increase in operating costs. In addition, over the years, a major challenge has been the limited availability of electricity. It’s impossible to completely electrify customer projects without risking losing subsidies or simply having the application rejected. Currently, alternatives to accessing green electricity unfortunately come at a very high cost
with no return on investment, making them difficult to implement unless driven by the customer's strong commitment to sustainable development. This can create deep frustration when we see that a sincere desire to contribute to the fight against climate change is dismissed because of a collective choice or societal priorities.
Can you give us a concrete example of a project in which you have integrated climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, and what were the results?
My first projects at CIMA+ focused on building life cycle analyses to quantify GHG emissions related to materials, commonly referred to as embodied carbon. In the case of the Charlesbourg school in Quebec City, for example, we were able to achieve a 13.3% reduction in embodied carbon by working with the design team to optimize concrete mixes and incorporate wood into the structure. We are talking about a reduction of more than 600 tonnes of CO2e, which is equivalent to driving 2,528,644 km by car, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)!
Lately, I have a soft spot for the projects we are carrying out in the mining and industrial sectors. For instance, we are helping a mining company reduce its GHG emissions. These types of projects are complex, and come with major capital allocation challenges and significant costs, but the potential reductions are also significant. Small energy efficiency projects for these large emitters represent major reductions in tonnes of CO2e.
We have also developed a climate change adaptation plan for a mining company in northern Quebec, and we have been able to translate CSA permafrost construction standards into concrete actions that the company can take to reduce the risk of accelerated permafrost thawing around their assets, such as buildings and roads.
How does CIMA+ stand out in the consulting field, and what role do you play in this approach?
Over the years, I have come to realize that we stand out in two ways. When we compare our capabilities to those of large consulting firms, it becomes clear that it is the engineering expertise of each sector that makes the difference in the level of detail, depth and credibility of the actions proposed. On the other hand, the picture is a little different when we compare ourselves to other engineering firms, because the great collaboration among our teams is our strength. No matter where a colleague is located, whether geographically or in different sectors, our people are always enthusiastic about getting involved in innovative projects. This is true even if they are very busy or if these projects push them out of their comfort zone, particularly because their scope is sometimes less well defined than traditional engineering projects. The teams are ambitious and are, therefore, willing to take a few more calculated risks together. No matter which province people work in, we all feel like we're on the same team. I am very grateful for all this collaboration.
What trends or developments do you anticipate in the area of sustainability and decarbonization, and how is CIMA+ preparing to respond to them?
Several fundamental trends are emerging in different areas: in the longer term, biodiversity will play an increasingly important role in project implementation, as climate change has done in recent years. The link between climate change and biodiversity has been established for many years, but clients will face increased pressure in the coming years to demonstrate their impact and what they are doing to reduce it.
In the shorter term, we can expect regulatory or contractual pressures to force clients to improve their energy efficiency. One example is Hydro-Québec, which encourages its clients to implement energy management systems. The banking sector and insurers will continue to modify their programs to offer lower borrowing rates when companies have a lower climate impact, and to require knowledge of climate risks before investing, lending or insuring. New subsidy programs will also be introduced to accelerate decarbonization and adaptation by organizations.
Outside of work, what motivates you on a daily basis?
I cycle to stay in shape, and for the pleasure of visiting beautiful places near Montreal. I am also involved in various volunteer initiatives, such as the VertCité board of directors. Entrepreneurship is one of CIMA+'s core values, and we are all very passionate and committed to our work. So, when I'm not working, I also enjoy spending quality time with my wife and 4-year-old son. In my spare time, I enjoy learning about personal finance and photography.
Learn more about CIMA+'s consulting and strategic advisory services in sustainability and decarbonization, and its expertise in climate change mitigation and adaptation.