Envision Sustainability Tools Inc.

Envision Sustainability Tools Inc.

Envision's offering creates and tells stories about the future, 5 to 40 years ahead, that cast today's options for sustainability into sharp relief. The professional services from Envision are enhanced by their proprietary technology, QUEST, and provide a unique ability to integrate economic, ecological, engineering, and social planning with non-technical audiences. Envision facilitates and supports the creation, analysis, and comparison of scenarios so that decision makers can embrace longer-term possibilities in partnership with the public.
We are a strategic solutions firm, founded in 1997 and closely associated with the Sustainable Development Research Institute at UBC, that operates globally from Vancouver, Canada. Envision's mission is to enable audiences to explore scenarios of possible future in a way that stimulates the imagination and sparks thinking about choices for the future of their region's economic, social and natural capital. In short, Envision strives to make sustainability make sense, a crucial component of success for communities and organizations wishing to prosper in the new millennium.


Project Experience: Envision's primary product, QUEST, has won both local and international support: The Greater Vancouver Regional District has purchased Lower Fraser Basin (LFB) QUEST for use in-house and in outreach activities. LFB QUEST has been the focus of hundreds of workshops and presentations in the region. Envision has begun a large scale project to expand LFB QUEST to the Entire Georgia Basin in a five year effort funded to SSHRC and Environment Canada. Academically, QUEST has been honoured by being selected as one of the lead models in a CD-ROM series that highlights the best Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) worldwide. The series will be published in the, 'Electronic Series of Integrated Assessment Modeling' (ESIAM), Editors: Jan Rotmans & Hadi Dowlatabadi. The World Bank has agreed to use QUEST in a world-wide training kit on sustainable development. QUEST is being used as the centerpiece of a large installation in Science World in Vancouver. The multi-media wing will feature exhibits and interactive kiosks about regional sustainability and will culminate in a spaceship that visitors enter to fly into the future using QUEST.


Internationally, Envision Sustainability Tools Inc. is currently leading projects to develop QUEST tools for the Langat Basin in Malaysia, the Northwest UK, Costa Rica, and the United States. Other QUEST development projects are in the works for India, Brazil, and various regions in Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia.


Company Vision: Envision's projects are collaborative in nature. It is most desirable for Envision to work with an organization based in the region being modelled with the skills and interest to participate throughout the model design, development, and implementation process. This kind of collaboration allows the projects to benefit from local knowledge and ensures that the resulting tools are locally well understood.


Envision has a strong interest in introducing QUEST to other countries. We are eager to identify organizations in other countries who would be willing to collaborate with Envision to develop customized QUEST applications for regions within those countries. It is hoped that through collaborative projects Envision staff will be able to train their counterparts in the development of integrated models like QUEST. As the result of this training, our partners will be better equipped to take more of a lead role in similar future projects. It has been our experience that once the idea of QUEST models are introduced and demonstrated in a region, projects in other parts of the country are quick to follow.


QUEST projects are naturally suited to urban centered regions that meet the following conditions: well organized data sets (GIS and human activity data is most useful); a serious commitment to sustainable development; and an interest in public participation and multi-stakeholder consultation.

Company Details

Year Established: 1997

Company Information

Kevin Mcnaney
Title: Project Manager
Telephone: (604) 822-8845
Fax: (604) 822-9081
Email: Click Here

Sharon Bryant
Title: VP, Marketing and Administration
Telephone: (604) 225-2000
Fax: (604) 225-2001
Email: Click Here

Mike Wash
Title: President
Telephone: (604) 225-2000
Fax: (604) 225-2001
Email: Click Here

Scott Akenhead
Title: Manager
Telephone: (604) 225-2004
Fax: (604) 225-2001
Email: Click Here

Denise Lawson
Title: Project Manager
Telephone: (604) 225-2000
Fax: (604) 225-2001
Email: Click Here

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