Powering Ahead Event Live Updates: Clean Energy Leaders Look to the Future

03:42 PM EDT

Steer encourages investment in clean energy, ‘wonderful time to be an investor’

“This is a wonderful time to be an investor in the green future,” Steer said.

He recalled that two years ago, many investors recognized it was not a good time to buy, but “my goodness me,” today has emerged as a “great” opportunity to invest.”

“Valuations are lower, and the opportunity moving forward is even greater,” he said.

“Don’t buy into the notion of, ‘Oh, America is out of things.’ It’s not. On the contrary, America is still generating these fantastic new technologies,” Steer said. “This is the country that has enabled things to happen in an amazing way.”

The audience cheered as Steer announced that he will become a U.S. citizen next month.

03:35 PM EDT

Sir Andrew Steer rounds off today’s panels, offers hope for the future

For the final discussion of the day, Sir Andrew Steer joins Young in a conversation about cleantech investing.

“There’s a lot to be depressed about, but actually there’s a lot to be cheerful about,” Steer told the room. “It’s important to remember that as they say, elections change lots of things, but they don’t change the laws of physics, and they also don’t change the rules of economics.”

Steer, who previously served as the president and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund, struck a cheerful tone as he offered a glimmer of hope.

Reflecting on what it was like when he watched the signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Steer said, “There was a real sense of moral purpose. There really was a belief that humans could work together globally to solve tough global collective action problems.”

Today, that may be lost, but Steer said in hearing from countries all over the world this week, “There’s an element of coming back.”

03:27 PM EDT

Sophie Hunter plays trailer for new project

Artist and director Sophie Hunter joined the panelists on stage to discuss what inspires her art.

She said her goal is to “move people to action” and get people away from feeling paralyzed, overwhelmed or disenchanted.

The audience watched a trailer for her latest project, “The Salt of the Earth,” a theater installation, environmental campaign and community program focused on what it means to bear witness to climate change.

03:08 PM EDT

Panelist addresses the super typhoon that beat down on Hong Kong, China earlier this week

Talking about the cost of safeguarding global infrastructure, Sacks points out that 40 percent of the global population lives near the coast, including 250 of the world’s largest cities, and that ocean risk and climate change are threatening roughly two-thirds of publicly traded companies, or about $8.5 trillion of their value.

“We’re seeing some of the hottest temperatures in the ocean,” she said. “That heat is shifting weather patterns. The typhoon just hit Hong Kong.”

Super Typhoon Ragasa, the world’s most powerful tropical cyclone this year, battered Hong Kong and south China this week, after killing dozens in Taiwan and the Phillippines.

“Unfortunately, some of the issues we see, it’s becoming a real issue,” Sacks said.

“When we look at the ocean and coasts, we’ve got to think about how we can invest in mangrove, salt marshes, sea grasses, coral reef resilience and sand dunes, which are amazing ecosystems as well, that defend those coastal ecosystems, cities, small communities, from the impact of change,” she said.

02:58 PM EDT

“A ton is not a ton anymore,” Quotient Markets’ Jason Libersky says

Taking the stage now is Aurora Chiste, the head of strategy and transformation at ACTUAL.

Chiste will host the “A New Asset Class: Nature as Infrastructure” panel. She is joined by Angus Garbutt, a principal scientist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Jason Libersky, the founder and CEO of Quotient Markets, Inc, Rachel Moré-Oshodi, the managing director and CEO of ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investment LTD, and Karen Sack, the executive director of Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA).

Libersky said a lot of natural assets have been valued only in terms of carbon, which often misses other factors like biodiversity or soil surface.

“So, how do you value that from an adaptation perspective?” he asked. “Especially if you’re an area where maybe a seawall that’s going to cost billions of dollars out of concrete, versus looking at how nature can solve things, and then also looking at that value in different value of a ton of carbon differently, too.”

“You see amazing discrepancies,” Libersky said, adding that, “By definition, a ton is not a ton anymore.”

“That’s one area where the exchanges and the commodity markets have gotten this market wrong,” he argued.

02:35 PM EDT

Energy providers detail how they’re meeting a surge in demand

Attendees return from the afternoon break for the “Meeting The Surge in Power Demand” panel.

Joining Young are panelists Kathleen Barrón, the chief strategy and growth officer at Constellation, Richard Donaldson, a senior vice president and the chief information officer at Duke Energy, and Ricardo Manuel Falú, the executive vice president and chief operating officer at AES.

Donaldson said one of the ways Duke, a regulated utility that operates mostly in the southeast, is positioning itself to meet the surge in power demand is ensuring that the provider continues to remain “safe, reliable and affordable.”

“Those are the pillars under which we approach everything,” Donaldson said.

At Constellation, providers are finding solutions by repowering renewables, extending nuclear licenses and working to bring its reactor in Pennsylvania back on the grid in two years, Barrón said.

AES has also taken similar steps, Falú said. He added that it was particularly important for organizations to work together to meet the demand.

“The sector has done a fantastic job addressing the demand, and I have no doubt that we will continue to work together, because this is not a zero-sum game. There’s plenty, plenty, plenty of opportunities for all of us. It’s more about how we work together to achieve,” he said.

02:00 PM EDT

Networking break

Attendees take their final networking break of the day before returning for the final panels of the day: “Meeting The Surge in Power Demand,” “A New Asset Class: Nature as Infrastructure” and “Cleantech Investing with Andrew Steer.”

01:57 PM EDT

Plastics conversation has evolved drastically in the last decade

Mallos reflected on the last decade, saying that the conversations on plastics has come a long way from the days when he was still explaining to audiences why plastics are problematic for the environment.

“Fast forward to where we are today. Within 30 seconds, [it’s] ‘How do we solve it? What do we do about it?'” he said. “That might not seem significant, but to have that quick evolution of public awareness in just a short period of time, compared to the broader climate debate, which some might say the jury is still out, I think it’s fascinating.”

“We have a hunger among the public, demanding action, wanting to know how we solve the problem,” Mallos said.

01:52 PM EDT

Algenesis’ Nick Sandland passes around compostable shoes

Sandland’s company has been focused on creating durable and biodegradable products ranging from footwear to phone cases to hunting equipment.

The San Diego-based startup was started by surfers who were frustrated with the trash they saw on the beach.

“We want to try and demonstrate to people that we can make high-quality, high-performing products that are bio-based,” Sandland said.

He said Algenesis’ shoes are fully compostable, which can sometimes prompt questions about the disintegration process, Sandland chuckled.

“We actually got one of our lab technicians to wear them every day, and then we took photographs as they sort of wear away,” he said.

“Shoes are a really difficult waste problem,” he added. “They’re so tightly bound, it’s tough from a recycling perspective. Forty different components, all different materials, very difficult to disassemble.”

01:43 PM EDT

‘Not all plastics are created equally,’ Ocean Conservancy executive says

Turning from autos to plastics, Young introduces the next panel, “Innovating to End Plastic Waste.”

Nick Mallos, the vice president of conversation and ocean plastics for the Ocean Conservancy, and Nick Sandland, the chief business officer of Algenesis Labs, will speak about emerging policy changes that support better waste collection and that provide more sustainable packaging materials.

“Not at plastics are created equally,” Mallos said, as he explained how dominant single-use plastic is among the items polluting our environment.

“At present, plastics production accounts for roughly 3 to 4 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions,” he cautioned.

01:31 PM EDT

Electric Vehicles are Designed With the Consumer in Mind

Newsweek Senior Autos Editor Eileen Falkenberg-Hull sat down with Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging President and CEO Andrew Cornelia, Electric Era Chief Revenue Officer Kyler Schmitz and Electrify America Director of Energy Services Jigar Shah. The group discussed the consumer-focused aspects of the electric vehicle industry.

“EVs are unique in that its one of the few renewable resources that consumers can interact with on a daily basis,” Schmitz said.

Companies creating EVs are keeping the consumer at the center of innovation, developing systems that are benefiting users. This varies from reliable batteries and fast charging to affordable vehicles and safe charging sites.

“I think there are a lot of good things happening within the industry,” Cornelia said. “There’s still a long way to go. We still have to work on bringing prices down on the vehicles.”

“I think reliability is key to make sure that customer confidence is there. You need to really feel that you can really go anywhere in the country and have access to economically viable, reliable charging,” Shah said, adding on about the speed of newly developed chargers. “We are well ahead of that curve and we are continuing to stay ahead of that curve.”

Cornelia added that fast charging has been a key initiative of Mercedes-Benz.

“We purposely built our network to be the fastest charging network in North America…We’ve always wanted to set the standard and push the industry forward,” he said.

Schmitz mentioned the importance of charging site locations, as well. Users often find that these stations are in dimly lit, remote or unsafe places.

“Site selection is so key. We have a litmus test that if we don’t want our child charging their car somewhere, we’re probably not going to choose that place,” he said.

Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging President & CEO Andrew Cornelia speaks at the Charged for Change: Building the Electric Vehicle Ecosystem panel during the Powering Ahead conference on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One World Trade Center…
Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging President & CEO Andrew Cornelia speaks at the Charged for Change: Building the Electric Vehicle Ecosystem panel during the Powering Ahead conference on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One World Trade Center in New York City. Other panelists include Electric Era Chief Revenue Officer Kyler Schmitz and Electrify America Director of Energy Services Jigar Shah.
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Karla Olivo/Newsweek

01:18 PM EDT

The electric vehicle conversation continues with Mercedes, Electric Era and Electrify America

Falkenberg-Hull introduces Andrew Cornelia, the president and CEO, Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging; Kyler Schmitz, the chief revenue officer of Electric Era; and Jigar Shah, the director of energy services of Electrify America, for the “Charged for Change: Building the Electric Vehicle Ecosystem” panel.

The panelists will explore the transition from gas vehicles to electric mobility, focusing on infrastructure, battery innovation, and policy collaboration, highlighting the need for widespread charging networks, resilient grid systems, and sustainable battery supply chains.

01:13 PM EDT

Rivian wants Americans to know they’re just as red, white and blue as the Big Three

Eileen Falkenberg-Hull, Newsweek’s senior autos editor, welcomes the audience back from lunch with a one-on-one conversation with Megan Farrell, the senior director of sustainability at Rivian.

In her opening remarks, Farrell said that sustainability “isn’t just a feature in our vehicle, it’s the foundation of everything we do.”

“While we are laser focused on producing as many superior electric vehicles as possible and advancing the electrification of transportation, we see it as both an opportunity and an obligation to weave sustainability into our daily practices, so that ultimately, the full life cycle of our vehicles contribute to a future that we’re really proud of,” she said.

Throughout the conversation, Farrell emphasized that Rivian, just like Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, is made in the USA. She discussed Rivian’s forthcoming plant in Georgia, which the company broke ground on a few weeks ago, as well as its plant in Illinois, which was previously a Mitsubishi automotive plant.

“At Rivian, we are very proud to contribute to America’s leadership in this very important sector, and we feel that we do that through our innovation, our technology and our vehicles, as well as the jobs that we create,” she said.

“Once that plant in Georgia is operational, that will equate to 7,500 jobs, and it will produce 400,000 vehicles a year, once fully operational, hopefully by 2028,” Farrell announced.

Rivian Senior Director of Sustainability Megan Farrell joins Newsweek’s Senior Autos Editor Eileen Falkenberg-Hull for a conversation on Built for the Future: Driving Sustainability from Street to Storefront, on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One…
Rivian Senior Director of Sustainability Megan Farrell joins Newsweek’s Senior Autos Editor Eileen Falkenberg-Hull for a conversation on Built for the Future: Driving Sustainability from Street to Storefront, on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One World Trade Center in New York City.
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Karla Olivo/Newsweek

12:15 PM EDT

The Climate Pledge and Amazon are in this together

Newsweek’s Environmental Sustainability and Governance Editor Jeff Young was joined by The Climate Pledge Global Leader Sally Fouts and Amazon Director of Worldwide Environment for Carbon Chris Roe to discuss the importance of partnerships between companies in order to meet goals.

“I think the world’s not on target for what needs to happen,” Roe said.

But, Amazon, along with its partners, is breaking down this major problem into “bite-sized chunks” according to Roe.

“When you try to go it alone as a single company it’s very hard to do,” Fouts said. “We’ve realized that no company despite the resources that we have will be able to solve some of those [climate] challenges within [its own] four walls.”

“It’s really collaborative nature and figuring out where those companies have the resources to help it move faster,” she continued.

Most importantly, the panel spoke about the importance of taking action

“We really are about taking action. There is a lot of propensity to collect data but it [needs to] actually lead to action,” Roe said.

“Just take steps into progress. If every company just took steps in an incremental way I think we would see progress,” Fouts added.

“Use those nos as a launch pad to find a yes,” Roe concluded.

Jeff Young, Newsweek’s environmental sustainability and governance editor, hosts the Cutting Carbon with Amazon panel during the Powering Ahead conference on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One World Trade Center in New York City. Panelists…
Jeff Young, Newsweek’s environmental sustainability and governance editor, hosts the Cutting Carbon with Amazon panel during the Powering Ahead conference on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One World Trade Center in New York City. Panelists include The Climate Pledge Global Leader Sally Fouts and Amazon Director of Worldwide Environment for Carbon Chris Roe.
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Karla Olivo/Newsweek

11:49 AM EDT

Panelists speak about the surging energy demand of AI data centers

Young returns to the stage to discuss how tech companies and electricity providers can work together to turn data centers into power partners on the “Powering Data and Tapping Data’s Power” panel.

“As we alluded earlier, the energy projections for AI data center use are pretty high,” Newsweek’s environmental sustainability governance editor began.

“The Energy Department projects as much as 12 percent of the total U.S. electricity production could go just to data centers,” Young said. “But there are also opportunities embedded inside of that surging demand, and that’s what we’re going to focus on next.”

Speaking to those opportunities today are Andreas Berthou, global head of HVDC at Hitachi Energy; Steve Carlini, vice president of innovation and data centers at Schneider Electric; and Stephen Lamm, the head of sustainability at Bloom Energy.

“It is top of mind for everybody,” Carlini said of data centers. “Globally, data centers only consume 1.5 percent of the electricity on the grid. They are growing fast, but there’s other industries that are growing fast as well.”

11:39 AM EDT

Economics and Utilities are at the Heart of Emerging Virtual Power Plants

Newsweek Politics and Culture Reporter Mandy Taheri sat down with SOLRITE Energy CEO Regan George, Enphase Energy SVP & Chief Marketing Officer Marco Krapels, Sonnen USA CEO Blake Richetta and XL Batteries CEO and Co-founder Thomas Sisto to discuss the emergence of virtual power plants and its economic implications.

Richetta started off by addressing virtual power plants themselves and what they mean for the industry.

“The term power plant isn’t doing justice to what we’re trying to do here. What we’re trying to do is really invent the energy system of the future,” Richetta said.

“We set out to solve the economic problem that is renewable energy,” George said. “We were able to devise a financial model where we are able to monetize the revenue that we obtain.”

When it comes to XL Batteries, Sisto is thinking even bigger.

“Everything you just heard, multiply it by a thousand,” he said.

“This is definitely scaleable. If there is something that I want you to remember from this it’s that the future is flex,” Krapels added. “Utilities are searching for flexible capacity. We need to help those utilities find excess to the flexible capacity.”

Newsweek Politics and Culture Reporter Mandy Taheri hosts the Tapping the Full Potential of Grid Batteries panel during the Powering Ahead conference on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One World Trade Center in New York…
Newsweek Politics and Culture Reporter Mandy Taheri hosts the Tapping the Full Potential of Grid Batteries panel during the Powering Ahead conference on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One World Trade Center in New York City. Panelists include SOLRITE Energy CEO Regan George, Enphase energy SVP & CMO Marco Krapels, sonnen group CEO Blake Richetta and XL Batteries CEO and co-founder Thomas Sisto.
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Karla Olivo/Newsweek

10:55 AM EDT

First networking break begins

Attendees take a short networking break before the next panel, “Tapping the Full Potential of Grid Batteries,” led by Newsweek Politics and Culture Reporter Mandy Taheri.

10:54 AM EDT

Mike Richter gives Elon Musk kudos for making electric vehicles cool, reflects on NHL career

Young welcomed Octopus Energy CEO Nick Chaset, PG&E EVP Carla J. Peterman and Brightcore Energy President Mike Richter for the first panel of the day, “Red, White and Blue Growth Areas for Clean Energy.”

In a wide-ranging discussion, Chaset, Peterman and Richter tackled the clean energy myths they wanted to dispel the most, the things they wished people knew more about renewable energy and ways to defuse a polarized landscape to get closer to more pragmatic energy policy.

“Energy consumers from Texas to San Francisco to New York City are really concerned about the ability to pay their bills and the lights being on,” Chaset said. “The other things, whether it’s clean or not, are important, but those are the day-to-day concerns.”

He added that’s why while Octopus Energy offers renewables, they market those products as “the lowest cost, most reliable, fastest solution.”

“That’s what customers want, and it’s not politicized,” the CEO said.
Richter agreed, expressing disappointment about the ways in which clean energy has become politicized.

Jeff Young, Newsweek’s environmental sustainability and governance editor, hosts the Red, White and Blue Growth Areas for Clean Energy panel during the Powering Ahead conference on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One World Trade Center…
Jeff Young, Newsweek’s environmental sustainability and governance editor, hosts the Red, White and Blue Growth Areas for Clean Energy panel during the Powering Ahead conference on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One World Trade Center in New York City. Panelists include Octopus Energy CEO Nick Chaset, PG&E EVP Carla J. Peterman and Brightcore Energy President Mike Richter.
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Karla Olivo/Newsweek

“It’s a shame, because if you really think about it, there’s not a conservative or liberal viewpoint that says, ‘I’m okay with dirty water, poor air quality,'” Richter said.

Richter also talked about the challenge of fighting the “inertia” of the existing systems already in place.

“The biggest thing is having people understand that there’s off-the-shelf technology right now that works and that improves battery storage. These are commercially-proven opportunities,” the president of Brightcore Energy said.

“If [people] really took the time to educate themselves, we are so close to begin able to solve a vast portion of our problems with off-the-shelf technologies,” Richter said. “We’re going to have to continue to innovate and to get a hold of it there, but right now, we’re not deploying the capabilities that we have.”

He added that there are also “incredible, innovative, better options” coming to market, but oftentimes they’re labelled as “green” or “sustainable” and “nobody knows what this means.”

“You can think whatever you want about Elon Musk, but he was able to take the idea of a electric car and make it cool,” Richter said. “That’s what we’re talking about. So, high-performance buildings, vehicles, grid—that, to me, is something that we have to never lose sight of.”

Richter, who famously led the New York Rangers to a Stanley Cup champion in 1994, was also asked about how his experience as a former NHL player has guided his work in the clean energy space.

He told the audience that as a goaltender who made many tremendous save but also lost some terrible goals, his greatest lesson was to push on.

“You have to forget that. Move to the next one. If you’re in this space, a lot of it is education. You’re going to be knocking on a lot of doors, and people don’t have interest. So, you get ready to hear a lot of those and have a lot of disappointment, and just put one foot in front of the other, keep going,” he encouraged.

10:23 AM EDT

Jason Grumet Says the Clean Power Industry is Becoming a ‘Political Football’

Newsweek’s Environmental Sustainability and Governance Editor Jeff Young was joined by American Clean Power Association CEO Jason Grumet for a fireside chat discussing “What’s Ahead for Clean Power.”

“We represent the entire supply chain—National Gas Company, manufacturing industry, transmission, maybe the safety harnesses to climb building towers,” Grumet said. “It is a very diverse collection, not just the technology, but all the different businesses that sometimes have meaningful attention.”

The pair discussed recent political policies that have been making news this week, including the Trump administration’s revoking of approval for a Massachusetts offshore wind farm.

“It is broadly infuriating and exhausting for an industry to become a political football,” Grumet said. “We’re trying to figure out, as all industries are right now. It’s a very unusual situation…We’re getting kind of bored with the word ‘unprecedented.’ It starts to lose its mojo after a while.”

“We need Congress to actually impose some limitations on the executive branch,” Grumet said. “This is a problem that has existed in this country for decades.”

“We have to accept that this is the way energy policy is. It just hurts the country. Democracy is slow but it tends to bring policy back towards the center.”

American Clean Power Association CEO Jason Grumet joins Newsweek’s Environmental Sustainability and Governance Editor Jeff Young in a fireside chat on “What’s Ahead for Clean Power” on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One World Trade…
American Clean Power Association CEO Jason Grumet joins Newsweek’s Environmental Sustainability and Governance Editor Jeff Young in a fireside chat on “What’s Ahead for Clean Power” on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at One World Trade Center in New York City.
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Karla Olivo/Newsweek

10:07 AM EDT

Newsweek’s environmental sustainability and governance editor kicks off event on a optimistic note

In his opening remarks, Newsweek’s Environmental Sustainability and Governance Editor Jeff Young said he recognized that while some of the topics of today’s conference are “not exactly upbeat at first glance,” but there’s “good news.”

Young said that Powering Ahead is trying to “lean into these conversations” with the mentality that solutions are “abound.”

“Most of the people that we’re going to have on the stage today are real change makers, not only in developing solutions, but in scaling up solutions so that they can meet the size of these considerable challenges that we have,” Young said.

09:37 AM EDT

Powering Ahead to bring together clean energy’s biggest voices

Attendees are arriving at Newsweek’s headquarters in New York City for Powering Ahead: Innovations in Energy and Plastics Technology.

The event will kick off with opening remarks from Newsweek’s Environmental Sustainability Governance Editor Jeff Young at 10 a.m.

Programming will include:

A panel on how clean energy companies can make progress across a divided political landscape

Fireside chats with the American Clean Power Association, Rivian and Sir Andrew Steer

A look at how tech companies and electricity providers can work together to turn data centers into power partners

A review of natural resources and a discussion about how these undervalued assets can be reframed as bankable infrastructure

Advice from leaders in the electric industry about how they are powering ahead with an AI boom and more parts of the economy electrifying

The full schedule of events can be found here.