Walking to work one November morning, structural engineer Chris Jeseritz was buoyed by a Nelson Mandela quotation on a digital sign on the side of a Seattle office tower: “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”

The quote resonated with Jeseritz. His firm, PCS Structural Solutions, is committed to pursuing an extremely ambitious sustainability goal, which even Jeseritz considers a near-impossible but worthy pursuit. PCS has pledged to eliminate embodied carbon in all its projects by 2050. “The subject of sustainability is so important,” says Jeseritz, PCS’ sustainability team leader.