LAS VEGAS, Oct. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, concluded its Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2022 customer event with a keynote on "The Power of the Energy Transition Towards a Net-Zero Future" by Annette Clayton, CEO, Schneider Electric North America. She was joined on stage with Melanie Nakagawa, Former Special Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director for Climate and Energy, The White House, and Susan Uthayakumar, Chief Energy and Sustainability Officer at Prologis.
The conversation centered on how companies can leverage current policy, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, to drive net-zero strategies and realize the path to a more sustainable future. "This is a once-in-a-generation policy that is going to truly accelerate decarbonization," said Clayton. "It's clear that this journey is about leadership and people tackling tough issues through both policy and action in their own companies. At Innovation Summit, one of the key topics we've been talking about is accelerating sustainability ambitions into real action."
Through their respective roles, Nakagawa and Uthayakumar represent the two perspectives, public and private, that are vital to reaching climate objectives. Nakagawa helped guide legislation for the Inflation Reduction Act – at $369 billion, the single largest investment in clean energy and climate change in U.S. history.
"What makes the IRA so special is that it's partner-based. It's about enabling partnerships and incentives that will accelerate this transition," said Nakagawa. Speaking of two other recent bills, the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and CHIPS Act, she continued. "You have a trio of laws that are a massive accelerant for navigating the energy transition. This legislation is unique in that it not only provides incentives, but has a focus on job creation, affordability for all, and boosting U.S. manufacturing – and doing all of that that at scale for the U.S. to be really competitive."
As Chief Energy and Sustainability Officer of Prologis, which operates and maintains 5,500 buildings and 1.1 billion square feet under roof across 19 countries, Uthayakumar oversees energy management for the company and its customer relationships. "With our scale comes responsibility and leadership in terms of decarbonizing," said Uthayakumar. "In order to declare a net-zero strategy, you have to have a net-zero target. Given that energy is our biggest emissions contributor, 60% of which is generated by our customers, we focused on data to tell us what kind of solution we needed to have."
Clayton, Nakagawa and Uthayakumar further discussed the importance of science-based targets and using data to accelerate decarbonization and meet climate goals across all sectors. In discussing the energy landscape, Nakagawa and Uthayakumar identified grid modernization and resiliency as a primary challenge, but the enormous opportunity companies now have to connect with policymakers to understand where the tensions exist, and how technology can be leveraged to resolve them.
"If you create a Venn diagram of 2022, you now have the policy apparatus, the technology and systems that are ready to be deployed, and the most financing we've ever had. At the center of the diagram is accelerating ambition," said Nakagawa. "The ingredients are there, now it's about having conversations."
Schneider Electric has long advocated for urgent, concerted action to reduce energy waste, invest in renewables, electrify and digitalize energy ecosystems, and ensure that all this is done with economic and people welfare in mind. The company is widely recognized as a leader on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, and its products, services and other activities help customers, suppliers, business partners and communities further their own progress on those fronts.
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