The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a backdrop for a number of major climate actions around the country, including a raft of historic clean energy mandates in California.

2020 held no punches. As Covid-19 swept the globe in March, many businesses entered fight or flight mode as the pandemic wrought sudden, sweeping change on the market environment:

As one decade draws to a close, predicting what’s to come in the next can be challenging. While the US-China trade war continues to sow uncertainty in global markets, there are signs an end may be in sight. Though earlier this year brought warnings of a recession, economists now say the US is likely to avoid one.

In June 2019, Illinois became the eleventh U.S. state to legalize recreational (i.e., adult use, nonmedical) marijuana, and just the second in the Midwest after Michigan to clear the way for adult marijuana retail markets to form. Furthermore, in July 2019, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act received a historic first hearing in congress – underscoring that legal weed is no longer just a west coast phenomenon.

You know the saying: New year, new market opportunities!

After a chaotic 2018 — a year defined by tariffs and trade wars, unprecedented merger and acquisition activity, stock market volatility, and murmurings that a new recession is brewing — finding the next big industry can be a real challenge.

Finding the next hot growth market is not always easy. Sometimes, the outlook for a new product is obvious. Take smartphones, for example. Other times, disruptive forces bring about sudden and unpredicted changes. For example, not until after news broke that Amazon acquired Whole Foods did grocery retailers roll out plans to expand their digital platforms and offer home delivery — sweeping changes few grocers had considered before the bombshell made adaptation a matter of survival.