In a segment sponsored by SK, Erin McGrain, Senior Vice President for SK, and former Congressman Joe Crowley discuss how businesses and government can work together to help transition America to clean energy solutions. Both highlight that strong public-private partnerships are needed to drive investments, innovations and workforce development, which will keep the U.S. on the leading edge of clean technologies like electric vehicles and hydrogen energy.

While the vaccines are a great next step in fighting the pandemic, we can’t lower our guard. Not all countries have broad access to vaccination. In the U.S. people that have access to vaccines may not have been  vaccinated, and children may not be vaccinated until much later in the year. Variants of concern will inevitably continue to appear, and we are seeing areas of the world where infections are at their peak and continue to trend up. As we consider travel and move about the world again, how can we remain safe while traveling? The U.S. State Department  warned against travel to about 80% of the world only last month, as many countries continue to contend with surges of the virus. Setting up a testing protocol that is flexible and timely, and keep travelers safe, will be key. Some countries, airports and airlines are already implementing testing measures systematically with success. What does the future of travel look like? We will discuss in this segment.

In a segment sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Antonio Neri, President and CEO talks about how the IT industry is working with customers to tackle the climate crisis as they move through their digital transformations. The explosion of data has created an ever-increasing need for IT infrastructure to process it and unlock the insights contained within. This growth of the digital universe comes at a cost to the planet, as demand for electricity and natural resources consumed by running these devices increases. Sustainable IT solutions are essential to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, preserving scarce resources, and limiting waste created by life in the connected era.