 From around the globe, it's theCUBE with digital coverage of AWS re-invent 2020. Sponsored by Intel and AWS. We continue our coverage here on theCUBE of AWS re-invent 2020. I'm John Walls, glad to be with you here and glad that you've joined us for an important discussion. You know, a lot of companies and many industries are making a very concerted effort toward promoting greater diversity and inclusion within their various workforces. And the renewable energy industry is certainly a big part of that movement and here to talk about how AWS is supporting that and what the industry itself is doing. I'm proud and pleased to welcome three guests. We have Shannon Kellogg with us from AWS. He's the Vice President of Public Policy for the Americas. Shannon, thanks for being with us here on theCUBE. Be back, thank you. And Greg Whetstone, who's the President and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy. We're going to call it ACOR from here on out and also joining us, Colleen Pickford, who is the EVP at ACOR and welcome to both of you. Glad we could have you here on theCUBE. Glad to be here, John. Great. Thanks for having us. You bet, absolutely. Looking forward to this discussion. First off, Shannon, let me turn it over to you. I know AWS had some fairly significant announcements very recently about renewable and launching that around re-invent 2020. If you would take us through that a little bit about that commitment and what exactly that news was all about. Well, thank you, John. Amazon overall made a very significant announcement last week of 26 renewable energy projects around the world. So many of those here in the US, but also many of those internationally. And the announcements collectively last week, along with what we've already announced previously in renewable energy projects now makes us the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world. And so we're really excited about that. This is part of our long-term efforts to be 100% renewable in our footprint around the AWS infrastructure footprint, but also part of the broader commitment that we have at Amazon, including around climate and sustainability. So we were really super excited about last week's amount. Can you give me an idea of the flavor of the projects? I mean, you're talking about more than two dozen. And as you said, they're around the world. So I assume a pretty wide variety of impacts and initiatives as well, but maybe just to give those watching at home an idea of what the scale of this might be. Well, it's a mix of solar and wind projects. Like I said, both in the U.S. and abroad, we had previously announced several solar projects in the Commonwealth of Virginia, for example. With last week's announcements, we added more solar in Virginia. We had previously announced wind projects in Ohio and we added more wind and large-scale utility scale projects in Ohio. And so we also included other states, of course, here in the U.S. and in countries as well, including one of the first offshore wind projects that we've done in this case with Orsted off of the coast of Germany. Greg, when you hear about that kind of commitment that AWS is making in terms of not only from a geographical standpoint, but from a variety standpoint, we're talking about wind, we're talking about solar. I mean, what stands out to you with regard to the impact of that kind of commitment and that kind of initiative? Gail, it's really impactful. It's such an impressive thing to be able to bring that many new renewable projects that are that big online in a single year, the total amount of new clean generation is on the order of 4,000 megawatts. It wasn't that long ago. That would be a great year for the renewable sector as a whole in the United States. Have you go back 10, 12 years? So the idea that one company is now procuring so much renewable power is phenomenally exciting. And we're just so proud of Amazon and it's big progress toward Amazon's 100% goal and really toward the broader effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions rapidly enough to stay within shouting distance of what scientists say we need to do in order to protect our planet's climate. Right, great point. Colleen, I know you made an interesting point recently. You're talking about the accelerated membership program, which is an initiative that you've just launched in terms of trying to create greater diversity and equity and inclusion within the renewable energy workforce. AWS, big sponsor of that founding partner. If you would tell us a little bit more about that program and what you see is what you hope it's near-term or short-term impact might be and then maybe the long tail of that, what kind of impact you can have eventually. Yeah, absolutely. Colleen, if you would. Sure, like many in our industry, we've been looking at how we can play a role in creating a more equitable and just future. And we were lucky because we have board members who went during one of our normal boring board meetings and were looking at our membership. They asked me, they said, what are you doing to bring more diversity into a core membership? And I had to say, not enough. And that's really the genesis for the Accelerate program and we were really fortunate to have Shannon and Amazon and our other board members work with us to develop a program that will create opportunities for companies that are owned or led by women or people of color to access Acor and all of our benefits for two years and create additional resources for them to really grow their businesses in a way that they may not otherwise be able to. Yeah, Shannon to point out that you are our board members. Colleen just mentioned of Acor. What is it about this particular initiative that you think that has piqued the AWS interest? I'm really excited about this. As Colleen said, we were discussing at the board level in ways that we could do more as Acor and as companies in this sector to promote diversity and inclusion. And we were brainstorming one day and came up with this idea. I'm really excited about it because we're basically going out and offering Acor membership and other services to entrepreneurs and small businesses in the sector led by minorities and women leaders. And this is just a fantastic opportunity to assist companies and organizations that are just getting started and it encourages innovation and encourages obviously diversity and inclusion. And so we're super excited about this effort. Yeah, great. Is this something that you can direct toward a company of any specific size? I mean, Shannon just touched on it, small business. But is this applicable, the Accelerate program is this geared toward just a small business? Is it larger? Well, we're trying to bring, we wanna bring more diversity in this sector. We wanna help and it's really the smaller companies that need assistance in making those connections and participating in gaining the access and maybe mentoring pro bono services. We wanna help those small companies become bigger, grow the sector and help enhance the diversity, the leadership in this sector from underrepresented communities. We want, like much of the economy, we recognize the renewable energy sector does not yet look like America looks. And that's something we're all fighting to achieve. And it's incredibly helpful to have Amazon is really the founding supporter of this program. And after Amazon stepped up, we've seen a number of other companies join in and helping make this a reality. And we've got a lot of momentum now, very excited about the Accelerate program. Colleen, I'd like to hear a little bit more from you on the partnership with AWS in general. I know this isn't the first time that you all have partnered together. So if you would maybe fill in some of the blanks about that history that led us to this initiative and then to them being one of the founding partners along with the Berkshire Hathaway Foundation. Sure, I mean, Amazon's been a member of our board for a number of years now, their commitment to the industry is clear. And Shannon and his whole team actively participate across Acor, providing us with guidance and with insights like these. I think when you look at what we've done with the Accelerate program, it's not the first stop for a new small company to organization like Acor. But we can have a measurable impact on their go-to-market strategies and their ability to grow their business. And Shannon and Amazon gave us that insight. And they gave us some additional insights about what we could provide through the Accelerate program that could really help make a difference for those companies. You know, Greg, if I could just flip the script just a little bit here or get you back onto the discussion about climate change in general. I know that's just obviously a key driver to your organization's mission. Just your thoughts about where we stand. You talked about trying to be within shouting distance of certain goals. I know there's been discussion about the United States, rejoining the Paris Accord and committing to voluntary emissions controls. Just, I mean, where are we in your mind in terms of trying to seriously address the problem? We're behind. I mean, the surprising thing is the renewable sector has been growing at a booming pace. We had over $60 billion in investment last year and wind and solar power. One of the most important economic drivers for the country. We're gonna end up, despite all of the difficulties presented by 2020 with the pandemic, we're gonna have record renewable energy growth in 2020. We're gonna bust through the old record which was about 23,000 megawatts and we'll be more like 27,000 megawatts. So that's great. But to get our arms around the climate issue, we know we have to grow much more rapidly. We've set a goal at ACOR of achieving a trillion dollars in investment by 2030, starting when we launched that program back in 2018. And we made a lot of headway, but we're behind. We need to be investing closer to 90, 100 billion a year in order to see that growth and logging at a growth at a much higher rate. We feel really optimistic about getting a tailwind from the new administration, the desire to build back better, the clear focus on policies that value the ability to generate power, to make our economy grow and grow dramatically without greenhouse emissions, without adding to climate change. So I'm optimistic we can get there, but we know we gotta step it up. As much as we've been growing as successful as we've been, it's not enough and we know that. And Colleen, how does your organization at ACOR trumpet that? I know you talk about the nexus of finance and policy and technology. Obviously policy is what is at the center of this particular discussion, but how can you in the coming year, especially be a key driver in that discussion? Well, I think we bring together a really unique stakeholder group from all across the renewable energy industry. And we take those stakeholders and it gives us a magnified voice to share the message of what's needed to really drive more watts of renewable energy onto the grid and what are those barriers in policy to making that possible? So, I mean, that's really how we do it is we bring together the most unique group together. Well, we appreciate the work, no question about that. It is a dire need that needs to be addressed. And we certainly thank you for that. Shannon, we thank AWS for their support, not only of this initiative, but of all that you're doing around the world. And we certainly wish you all the best of success with the Accelerate Membership Program and creating these better hiring opportunities within your industry. So thank you all very much for joining us here on theCUBE.