Tag: 3BL

Comcast NBCUniversal celebrates Pride and LGBTQ+ changemakers, organizations, and entertainers all year long. Throughout Pride Month, we’re showcasing how Pride is Universal across the company through our unparalleled content destinations and partnerships with LGBTQ-led and serving nonprofits advancing digital equity in their communities.

Xfinity

Xfinity celebrates Pride year-round with its best-in-class LGBTQ+ Film & TV destination on X1, Flex, and Xfinity Stream. We connect LGBTQ+ viewers and their allies to a growing collection of entertainment from across hundreds of networks and streaming services that highlight and reflect their lived experiences.

During Pride Month, we debut new features, functionality, and content collections to make it easier for customers to find and enjoy LGBTQ+ programming. Notably, we are bringing back the interactive timeline of LGBTQ+ representation in entertainment that we debuted during last year’s Pride Month. Researched and created by our LGTBQ+ editor, this year’s list includes five new milestones from 2022, including the release of Universal Pictures’ Bros, the first gay romantic comedy from a major studio. Customers can find this special collection and more by simply saying “Pride” into their Xfinity voice remote.

Comcast Newsmakers

Comcast Newsmakers will release five new interviews spotlighting champions of the LGBTQ+ community, including Kelley Robinson, the first Black woman to serve as president of the Human Rights Campaign. Other featured guests include E.C. Pizarro III of TransTech Social Enterprises, Stacy Lentz of the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, and Casey Pick of The Trevor Project. Conversations focus on topics including tech industry education and career development for transgender and non-binary people, and more.

NBCUniversal

NBCUniversal is celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride Month to recognize this incredible and diverse community. NBCUniversal’s “Pride Is Universal” campaign pays tribute to those who paved the way for the LGBTQ+ community and celebrates all those who identify with it. On Peacock, check out the Amplifying LGBTQIA+ Voices Collection to stream stories that are authentic, fearless, and undeniably proud.

Digital Equity & Social Impact

Through Project UP, our comprehensive initiative to advance digital equity, Comcast NBCUniversal is proud to partner with organizations dedicated to uplifting the LGBTQ+ community. This includes working with StartOut, a nonprofit organization that aims to build a world where every LGBTQ+ entrepreneur has equal access to lead, succeed, and shape the workforce of the future, and LGBT Tech, which provides cutting edge technology and resources to improve the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals. We’ve also partnered with The Trevor Project and GLSEN to continue spreading the message of equality for all regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

Our Employees

Comcast employees are celebrating the LGBTQ+ community across the country at Pride parades and employee-led events, including our first-ever national Pride Summit. This hybrid event will bring together employees from the LGBTQ+ community and their allies for conversations around allyship and authenticity.

Our passionate employees inspire us all and we’re grateful for their commitment to making our company a place where people feel safe and valued. Meet a few of our employees below and learn more about how they celebrate their identities at work.

VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, TPX Amaya Capellán

Read the Q&A

TOTAL REWARDS DATA SERVICES PROCESS IMPROVEMENT ENGINEER & CO-LEAD FOR THE HEADQUARTERS MYABILITIES EMPLOYEE RESOURCE GROUP Jerry Marcus

Read the Q&A

Clorox’s ESG goals are integrated into our IGNITE strategy because we believe they drive growth and create positive value for our brands, people and communities. We’ve focused on where we can make the biggest impact – Clean World, Healthy Lives and Thriving Communities — and have 20 public-facing goals in these areas.   

In recognition of National Safety Month, this next installment of our “Steps to …” series focuses on the steps Clorox takes to foster the safest workplace possible for our teammates. We spoke with Carla Mueller, associate director of global supply chain, to learn more about Clorox’s enterprise-wide safety management efforts.

Why is promoting safety in the workplace so important to Clorox?  

People are at the center of everything we do here at Clorox, which is why we strive to create a workplace culture that prioritizes our teammates’ safety and well-being in our day-to-day operations.

Effective safety can’t be achieved solely from the efforts of leaders or just one area of our business. It relies on everyone working to create a safer working environment together, using best practices rooted in the understanding that it’s in all our best interests to protect one another. We want all of our teammates to have an active voice in how we evolve our operations — especially as it relates to safety — because that’s how we’ll continue to stay engaged, grow as a company and create the best products for our consumers around the world.

How does Clorox keep itself accountable for maintaining a safe work environment? 

One way we stay accountable is by setting goals. Based on industry benchmarking by Clorox, we aim for a global recordable incident rate, or RIR, of 1.0 or less, as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines. Despite the increase in complexity, attrition and cumulative fatigue of the broader labor force, last fiscal year we surpassed our goal and reported an RIR of 0.56. This means that for every 100 full-time equivalent Clorox teammates globally (inclusive of remote workers), we averaged less than one reportable incident during the past year.

To us, safety is more than an annual metric. As we continue executing on our IGNITE strategy, we have a responsibility to keep raising the bar for safe working conditions for our 9,000 teammates, our contractors and suppliers, and our local communities around the world.

What are some of the ways Clorox implements and tracks safety efforts across its operations?

In addition to complying with government regulations around the world (namely EPA, OSHA and ANSI), we have systems and policies to help us identify, track, report and improve workplace issues and minimize hazardous conditions for all teammates — whether they’re working in one of our plants, offices or research labs, or even at home.

To ensure all production teams are trained consistently and comprehensively, our Global Safety and Environmental team operates a monthly education program in the continental U.S., which we recently expanded internationally into four languages.

We encourage all of our teammates to identify, control or eliminate physical risk, and we reinforce this with internal safety audits conducted at all our facilities every two years. Additionally, our facilities have established rotating committees that meet periodically to identify safety risks and solutions unique to their shift and location to track real-time opportunities for improvement.

To support our hybrid workforce, we’ve put more emphasis on our ergonomic programs to help ensure our teammates working remotely are comfortable, have the proper equipment, and take breaks to ensure overall well-being.

How is Clorox using technological advances to innovate its safety policies and processes? 

Our workplace safety systems consist of a strategic mix of digital tools, training modules, compliance programs and corporate emergency operations centers to coordinate and allocate resources in times of crisis.

As one example, our engineering team has installed safety devices for our existing machinery that provide alternative protection measures, ensure they’re working properly and ultimately prevent teammates from getting hurt.

In our journey of continuous improvement, we’re currently evaluating new technology to assist in behavior-based safety improvements at pilot sites within our organization. This new source of data will be used to help proactively identify incident trends and offer focused improvements in areas in which the potential for risk exists.

What are some examples of workplace safety best practices, training and/or resources you would encourage other organizations to adopt? 

Keep teammates accountable and communications open. Beyond establishing code of conduct policies and mandatory trainings, all organizations should work to create a culture of accountability and advocacy so that every teammate feels empowered to speak up when they see opportunities to make their work environment safer. Ensuring the channels of communication are open and that people feel comfortable bringing up safety concerns are key!Celebrate safety wins. At Clorox, we launched the Clorox Cup to highlight teams that excelled in completing compliance tasks across the areas of safety, environmental, sustainability and security. Programs like this are a great way to showcase best practices so that other teams can get inspired and improve processes of their own.

Our ESG commitment is driven by our purpose to champion people to be well and thrive every single day. Learn more about our ESG goals here. Want to make a positive impact on the world? Learn about Clorox careers here. 

Leidos debuted on the inaugural U.S. News Best Companies to Work For list, earning especially high marks on work-life balance.

Why you should know: The accolade affirms the company’s commitment to its most valuable asset, its employees, and further positions the company as a leader in attracting great talent.

Methodology: The list includes the top 200 companies evaluated by U.S. News, which graded companies based on flexibility, pay and benefits, stability, comfort, development and inclusion.

“To consider what selected publicly available data says about how a company supports the everyday experience of its employees, we leveraged Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and translated it into an ‘Employee’s Hierarchy of Needs,’” says the list’s publishers.

Leidos CEO Tom Bell emphasized the company’s strong employee culture in a message to all 45,000 employees last week.

“Leidos is a company of exceptionally talented and dedicated individuals,” wrote Bell. “It’s clear that there is something very special most of us feel about working at Leidos. The camaraderie and genuine care for each other here is readily apparent.”

Background: It’s the latest in a string of major recognitions for Leidos, which was also recently named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute for the sixth consecutive year, one of America’s Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes, one of the World’s Most Admired Companies by Fortune and one of America’s Best Large Employers by Forbes.

“People are the foundation of everything we do,” says Maureen Waterston, Leidos Chief Human Resources Officer. “Our inclusive culture attracts a vast array of the best talent and embraces different perspectives to foster the innovation that differentiates Leidos within the industry.”

Looking ahead: Bell, who began his tenure last month, said he’s looking forward to building on success.

“We will work in the coming months to continue to define and implement plans that make Leidos a truly differentiated employer — attracting and retaining only the best-of-the-best, ‘wicked-smart’ people to serve our customers,” he said.

To find your new career path at Leidos, please search our careers page.

Originally published on GoDaddy Life

What was your favorite part of your GoDaddy internship?

My favorite part of the GoDaddy internship was the exhilarating intern hackathons, which gave all interns the opportunity to showcase our skills and explore new horizons. I was able to collaborate with other talented interns and we competed against other teams to develop innovative products within a tight 24-hour timeframe. During my first internship, my team and I had created an electron app that seamlessly integrated essential work tools, earning us victory in the hackathon. In my second internship, we incorporated biometric authentication into GoDaddy’s current method web authentication, ensuring secure logins. Winning both hackathons, I was able to take home a total of $600 over the course of my two internships. These intense hackathon experiences challenged me to think creatively, push boundaries, and strive for excellence. GoDaddy provided the perfect platform for me to not only showcase my skills, but also explore new technologies and expand my horizons. The lessons I learned and the achievements I attained during those intense 24-hour sprints continue to inspire me to seek out new challenges, break barriers, and make a lasting impact in the world of technology.

Did you learn anything in your internship that has helped you in your final semesters in college?

Absolutely! The internship at GoDaddy had a significant impact on my final semesters in college. Initially, it was a bit intimidating to enter an unfamiliar world surrounded by talented and brilliant Software Engineers. However, my worries were quickly dispelled as I got to know my team on a deeper level, in which they became a source of support and guidance. As a Software Engineering major, there’s a strong emphasis on learning industry practices. Prior to the internship, my knowledge was limited to the programming principles taught to me up to my sophomore year. During my internship at GoDaddy, my teammates helped serve as valuable mentors who helped me expand my understanding of various concepts that were far ahead of my current progress in Arizona State University’s curriculum. I gained exposure to microservice architecture, REST APIs, database fundamentals, agile methodologies, and, through so many code reviews, my teammates had guided me towards the beauty of organizing my code in a logical and readable manner. For me, this hands-on experience bridged the gap between theory and practice and gave me a deeper understanding of the industry while preparing me for the challenges that awaited me in my final semesters.

What were you most excited for, about starting full-time for GoDaddy?

Starting full-time at GoDaddy has been an exhilarating milestone in my journey as a Software Engineer. What excited me the most was the prospect of collaborating with a team of highly skilled professionals who are truly passionate about their work. Their expertise and dedication present invaluable opportunities for me to learn and grow as a professional.

What advise would you share with future interns?

Embrace every learning opportunity that comes your way as a future intern. Remember, you’re not expected to know everything right from the start. Your teammates are there to support and guide you, with the shared goal of shaping you into a resilient engineer, capable of tackling unprecedented challenges. Approach your internship with a positive attitude and a strong desire to learn. Mistakes and setbacks are inevitable. You will break stuff, but they also present valuable learning opportunities. Strive to learn from them and continuously improve, aiming to be the best version of yourself throughout the internship.

Are you enjoying this series and want to know more about life at GoDaddy? Check out our GoDaddy Life social pages! Follow us to meet our team, learn more about our culture (Teams, ERGs, Locations), careers, and so much more. You’re more than just your day job, so come propel your career with us.

Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/GoDaddyLifeInstagram — https://www.instagram.com/godaddylife/LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/godaddylifeTwitter — https://twitter.com/GoDaddyLifeTikTok — https://www.tiktok.com/@godaddylife?Career Page — https://careers.godaddy.com

FedEx Cares is committed to building connections between people and opportunities.

Our Citizenship Report features our global community engagement program throughout calendar year 2022. It highlights our progress in the key areas of Delivering for Good, Global Entrepreneurship, and Sustainable Logistics, along with our organization-wide endeavors in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Employee Engagement. The report also showcases the significant achievements made through our FedEx Cares 50 by 50 initiative.

Together in 2022, we transported $2.3 million in aid to Ukraine and helped feed 1,500 people per day in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. We invested over $4 million in small businesses and trained 3,000 entrepreneurs in e-commerce. We invested in new ways to capture carbon and scale electric vehicles. We sent first generation students to college and helped connect women of color to jobs and economic mobility. Our team members volunteered their time and skills to advise nonprofit and city leaders all over the world.

Read more about these efforts and achievements in the 2022 FedEx Cares Report.

Our FedEx Cares team members and nonprofit partners inspire us every day with their unwavering commitment to delivering critical services to communities in need across the globe. We are continually inspired by their dedication and passion.

—Number of supercomputers powered by AMD EPYC processors and AMD Instinct accelerators increases 29 percent YOY in latest Top500 list—

—Seven of Top 10 in Green500 List Are Powered by AMD Processors —

June 20, 2023 /3BL Media/ – AMD recently celebrated its first year of breaking the exascale barrier. AMD EPYC™ processors and AMD Instinct™ accelerators continue to be the solutions of choice behind many of the most innovative, green and powerful supercomputers in the world, powering 121 supercomputers on the latest Top500 list.

“AMD’s mission in high-performance computing is to enable our customers to tackle the world’s most important challenges,” said Forrest Norrod, executive vice president and general manager, Data Center Solutions Business Group, AMD. “Our industry partners and the global HPC community continue to leverage the performance and efficiency of AMD EPYC processors and Instinct accelerators to advance their groundbreaking work and scientific discoveries.”

AMD Powered Frontier Moves into Full User Operations

The Frontier supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, powered by AMD EPYC processors and AMD Instinct accelerators, remains the fastest computer in the world – for the third list in a row. Frontier’s performance increased to 1.194 exaflops, adding 92 petaflops of performance since the November 2022 ranking. The additional 92 petaflops would place eighth on the latest Top500 list. As well, Frontier still remains one of the most energy efficient systems in the world. The Frontier Test and Development System is number two on the Green500 with the full system placing sixth.

This year marks the one-year anniversary of the Frontier officially breaking the exascale barrier for the first time, a feat that remains unmatched. Since then, Frontier entered full user operations and is now supporting users from numerous scientific disciplines. A sample of studies currently using the power of the Frontier supercomputer include:

Cancer Distributed Learning Environment (CANDLE) which seeks to develop predictive simulations that could help identify and streamline trials for promising cancer treatments, reducing years of lengthy, expensive clinical studies.WarpX which looks to simulate smaller, more versatile plasma-based particle accelerators and enable scientists to design particle accelerators for everything from radiation therapy to making semiconductor chips. The team’s work won the 2022 Gordon Bell Prize, which recognizes outstanding achievement in high-performance computing.ExaSky which plans to expand the size, scope and accuracy of simulations for complex cosmological phenomena such as dark matter to uncover new insights into the dynamics of the universe.

“WarpX is a first-of-its-kind application that enables 3D simulations of laser-plasma physics. As the team worked on the application as part of the DOE Exascale Computing Project, we knew that it needed to be optimized from the get-go to run on the world’s fastest supercomputer, Frontier,” said Axel Huebl, lead software architect of WarpX at Berkeley Lab. “What made our jobs easy was the fact that the GPU kernels that support the AMD Instinct accelerators and the ROCm open software platform are written in modern C++ with a fully open software stack. This and close iteration on early software and hardware previews gave the WarpX team the confidence and ease to get up and running quickly on Frontier, with fantastic results, that ultimately helped us win the Gordon Bell prize.”

Driving a Robust HPC and AI Ecosystem

AMD is also providing the hardware and software portfolio needed to meet the rapidly growing demand for AI applications within the HPC industry.

For hardware, the AMD Instinct MI250X and AMD EPYC processors take the top two spots in the latest HPL-MxP mixed-precision benchmark, which highlights the convergence of HPC and AI workloads, with the Frontier and LUMI systems. Frontier posted a score of 9.95 exaflops of mixed precision performance, adding two exaflops to its score from the previous list. While Lumi posted a score of 2.2 exaflops in the HPL-MxP benchmark.

Beyond hardware, AMD works with the HPC and AI community to drive the next wave of innovation and support new applications through open software. The AMD ROCm™ open software platform is utilized across multiple large scale HPC systems and has demonstrated stability, robustness and use at this massive scale. ROCm support of large AI models is also rapidly expanding on industry-leading TensorFlow and PyTorch frameworks to help users accelerate AI workloads on AMD Instinct hardware.

For example, the LUMI Supercomputer at CSC Finland is being used to train and power a GPT-3 large language model (LLM) with 13 billion parameters based entirely on Finnish. As well, LUMI is also being used by the Allen Institute for AI to train a new LLM for scientific discovery called Open Language Model (OLMo). OLMo is a uniquely open language model intended to benefit the research community by providing access and education around all aspects of model creation.

Accelerating Adoption of AMD-Processor Powered Systems

AMD demonstrated new collaborations that are advancing what’s possible for solving the world’s most complex problems. Systems leveraging AMD products include:

A new supercomputer from Atos for the Max Planck Society powered by 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors and AMD Instinct MI300 accelerators for research around astrophysics, life science research, materials research, plasma physics and AI.The Adastra system, one of the fastest and greenest in Europe, managed by GENCI and housed at CINES was commissioned, installed and is now available to French and European researchers.LUMI, one of the fastest and most energy efficient supercomputers in the world. Leveraging AMD EPYC and AMD Instinct processors, LUMI is being used to power new research around climate change and cancer.A new supercomputer launched in April 2023 from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration dedicated to climate science research.Nautilus, a new supercomputer from the U.S. Navy DoD Supercomputing Resource Center will support development of weather and ocean products is powered by AMD EPYC CPUs.

Enabling More Energy Efficient Computing

In HPC, energy efficiency is a top priority for the industry to meet sustainability commitments and enable the next generation of supercomputers. AMD is driving innovation and setting new industry standards around energy efficiency. On the latest Green500 list, AMD powers seven of the top 10 systems on the including spots two through seven with AMD EPYC CPUs and AMD Instinct Accelerators.

A highlight of energy efficiency is the AMD powered LUMI supercomputer which is the both the fastest supercomputer in Europe and one of the most efficient. LUMI also takes this the next step by running on 100 percent carbon neutral hydroelectric power and capturing waste heat to power the surrounding city.

Supporting Resources

Find more AMD HPC & AI information and customer testimonials on the AMD HPC HubLearn more about AMD EPYC Processors and AMD Instinct AcceleratorsFollow AMD on TwitterConnect with AMD on LinkedIn

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. and WASHINGTON, June 20, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Critical human infrastructure solutions leader Black & Veatch and DG Fuels LLC – an emerging leader in cellulosic drop-in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) – today announced they signed and began a binding agreement for Black & Veatch to perform a front-end loading (FEL-3) engineering report for DG Fuels’ launch project to be located in Louisiana.

The report involving a possible low-emission fuel manufacturing facility in St. James Parish along the Mississippi River is expected to be completed in eight to nine months, consistent with Washington, D.C.-based DG Fuels’ goal of reaching a final investment decision (FID) on the project in early 2024.

“The DG Fuels facility is expected to create more than 600 new permanent union operating jobs and up to 2,100 construction jobs over three years,” said Michael C. Darcy, CEO of DG Fuels. ”If fully scaled up, the initial facility is projected to have a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production capacity of approximately 180 million gallons per year, which represents a carbon dioxide (CO2) savings of approximately 1.65 million metric tons compared to conventional jet fuel.”

DG Fuels has developed an innovative design system for utilizing renewable energy sources, such as agricultural and timber waste feedstock, to reduce aviation fuel’s carbon intensity score by 140 percent when compared to industry standards. DG Fuels estimates the facility would produce 120 million gallons of SAF per year on average, which would remove approximately 1.5 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually.

This project aligns with the federal government sponsored SAF Grand Challenge, which aims to help reduce cost, enhance sustainability and expand production of domestic SAF. The program looks to produce 3 billion gallons domestic sustainable aviation fuel per year, achieving a minimum of a 50 percent reduction in life cycle greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) compared to conventional fuel by 2030 and 100 percent projected aviation jet fuel use – or 35 billion gallons of annual production – by 2050.

“Developing and expanding infrastructure in decarbonization and this important project involving biomass and creating clean, sustainable aviation fuel are key aspects of a global energy transition,” said Doug Miller, a Black & Veatch vice president and managing director. “Black & Veatch remains committed to delivering solutions that lower carbon footprints in air travel, leveraging our experience from across the energy industry to more clean transportation fuels for the future.”

About Black & Veatch 
Black & Veatch is a 100-percent employee-owned global engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company with a more than 100-year track record of innovation in sustainable infrastructure. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people around the world by addressing the resilience and reliability of our most important infrastructure assets. Our revenues in 2022 were US$4.3 billion. Follow us on www.bv.com and on social media.

About DG Fuels 
DG Fuels is building a low-CO2 life cycle emissions synthetic fuel system based on high carbon conversion technology that is targeting a 97% efficiency. The DG Fuels’ technology does not require the development of new engines or types of distribution infrastructure. DG Fuels’ innovative technology produces hydrogen via water electrolysis and biomass derived carbon replacement fuel for aircraft, and potentially for locomotives, vessels and trucks as well. DG Fuels delivers a significant value proposition to end-customers, including meaningful environmental benefits and the ability to materially address sustainability goals. If successful, DG Fuel’s carbon efficient solution will tie together all critical elements to power, fuel, and provide SAF to its customers. Learn more at www.dgfuels.com.

Media Contact Information:

Black & Veatch: 
JIM SUHR | +1 913-458-6995 P | SuhrJ@BV.com 
24-HOUR MEDIA CONTACT | Media@bv.com

DG Fuels: 
JENNIFER BECK I +1 202 649-0145 I jbeck@dgfuels.com

In celebration of Juneteenth, AEG’s LA Galaxy and LA Kings fed over 500 families in Watts, CA in partnership with the East Side Riders Bike Club, a volunteer organization with a mission to improve Watts through community service and charity work. The food distribution event was held at the East Side Riders’ distribution center on June 13, 2023.

Staff members from the LA Galaxy Foundation and Kings Care Foundation, along with the LA Galaxy’s Star Squad, the LA Kings Ice Crew, the club’s mascots Cozmo and Bailey, local volunteers and members of the East Side Riders Bike Club handed out bags of non-perishable food and fresh produce to families in need. Each bag was filled with an assortment of foods including canned beans, pasta, rice, peanut butter, canned vegetables as well as tortillas, eggs, tomatoes, oranges, bell peppers, and potatoes.

“The LA Galaxy and LA Kings are honored to partner with the East Side Riders in celebration of Juneteenth,” said Felicia Hano, Community Relations Coordinator, LA Galaxy Foundation. “Today, higher prices are impacting families across our city and many are struggling to make ends meet. The East Side Riders are champions for local youth and families in Watts and through this initiative, we are not only able to provide quality nutrition to those in need this holiday, but also to amplify the incredible work the organization does.”

For children and their families attending the food distribution event, the LA Kings hosted a puck shoot out activation and the LA Galaxy setup an inflatable soccer kicks game for attendees to enjoy.

East Side Riders Bike Club seeks to positively impact the city of Watts by helping prevent kids from being in gangs and doing drugs, assisting those in need and educating all who seek to enrich the community. To learn more about volunteering and the organization’s mission and work, please click here.

Episode Summary

In this episode of the “Better Together” podcast, SEE® (formerly Sealed Air) employee Teri Smith shares her personal connection to the LGBTQIA+ community, the critical role LGBTQIA+ allies play, and the importance of having employee resource groups in the workplace. “It shouldn’t matter who people love or how they identify,” Teri says. “At the end of the day, we’re all people. We work together and we should be able to feel comfortable when we go to work and feel safe.”

Listen to the episode here.

About the Podcast

Believing employees can strengthen connections by learning from the experiences of co-workers, global packaging provider SEE® (formerly Sealed Air) created “Better Together,” a DEI-focused podcast that gives employees the opportunity to share personal stories and perspectives that spark understanding and respect. The corporate podcast encourages employees to embrace their identities and look beyond differences to help foster inclusion in the workplace. “Better Together” is hosted and produced by Akilah Garvin, Sealed Air’s Senior Manager of Supply Chain Communications.

By Dan Minkoff

“I can’t emphasize enough: We need more electricity.”

That was a message Elon Musk delivered during his keynote conversation with Edison International President and CEO Pedro Pizarro at the Edison Electric Institute Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, where the company he founded, Tesla, is building its new Gigafactory.

Pizarro was elected chair of EEI for 2023-24 during the annual meeting, and as EEI chair, Pizarro will lead the electric power industry’s efforts to accelerate progress toward net-zero carbon emissions. EEI represents U.S. and international investor-owned companies that provide electricity for more than 235 million people.

Increased demand for clean electricity is driven only partly by the explosive growth of Teslas and other electric vehicles. Musk made it clear during the 45-minute dialogue that he shares a similar view as EEI ― decarbonizing the economy is essential for the planet’s health. Pizarro asked Musk if there’s a common thread in his mission across all of his companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Twitter and Neuralink.

“The aspiration … is to maximize the probability that the future will be good for civilization,” Musk said.

When talking about recent announcements to open the Tesla Supercharger network to other auto manufacturers, he said, “I don’t know if it’s a good thing for Tesla or a bad thing. I think it’s morally right … If it’s something that will help advance sustainable energy, we’ll do it.”

Pizarro responded: “That’s a powerful commitment to sustainability.”

Musk, however, wants the industry to move faster while recognizing the challenges of building more electricity infrastructure.

“We’re just like Gulliver’s Travels, and each of those regulations by themselves may not be so bad, but you have 10,000 little strings holding the giant of America down from a regulatory standpoint,” he said.

Pizarro acknowledged the need for siting and permitting reform, saying, “That’s one problem we need to solve.”

Electrifying passenger cars and trucks is part of the solution. A clean energy future also requires electrifying medium- and heavy-duty transportation and industrial equipment, mitigating and adapting to a changing climate, extending and hardening the grid to make it more resilient, reliable and ready for growing customer needs, improving physical safety, cybersecurity and more. All of that needs to happen while keeping electricity affordable.

Pizarro discussed those issues with Immediate Past EEI Chair Warner Baxter and EEI Vice Chair Maria Pope during a CEO leadership panel moderated by Lynn Good, chair, president and CEO of Duke Energy. They highlighted recent progress with the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). They also touched on additional policies and investments needed to support economywide electrification and the importance of engaging regulators and customers to expedite investments.

One area Pizarro focused on is the process of building out electricity transmission.

“We have great partners in the administration today and in Congress,” he said during the CEO panel. “All of them acknowledge that all of the wonderful work that’s been done in the last 18 months will be for naught if we can’t get steel in the ground. So, getting permitting and siting reform continues to be on my agenda.”

The EEI Annual Meeting also included featured sessions with Bill Gates, best known as Microsoft’s co-founder, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy Innovation John Podesta.

Baxter, executive chairman of St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation, hosted the conversation with Gates, whose latest focus is supporting energy innovation through his company, Breakthrough Energy. Gates said the clean energy transition is the hardest thing humans have ever done.

“The idea that we have this [net-zero] goal [in the U.S.] by 2050, that we’ll replace all those steel plants, cement plants, coal plants ― there’s no equivalent thing,” Gates said. “The number of pieces that must be coordinated to make this work, including designing a whole new green grid, is incredibly complex.”

Nevertheless, Gates has a positive outlook.

“[In] any area of emissions [reduction], we now see the path to get there,” he said. “The execution is daunting, but there’s a path to get there.”

Gates later added, “Electrification is what it’s all about.”

Pope, president and CEO of Portland General Electric, led a conversation with Granholm and Podesta about federal support for the clean energy transition, including funding from the IIJA, IRA and ensuring a just transition, particularly for underserved communities.

For the next year, Pizarro will be a leading voice for the electric power industry as EEI advocates for many of the issues discussed with Musk, Gates, Granholm and Podesta.

“I look forward to supporting the electric power industry’s investments of more than $130 billion each year to extend and harden the grid,” Pizarro said. “We have a lot of hard work ahead. The commitment from electric companies, plus interest and innovation from entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, Bill Gates and others, makes me optimistic about the future. Decarbonizing all sectors of the economy may be one of the difficult things we must do, yet it also might be the most important for the future health and safety of our planet.”

For more information, visit eei.org.