Jason Buechel, Chief Executive Officer, Whole Foods Market Calvin Butler, Chief Executive Officer, Exelon Moderator: Indrani Sen, Senior Features Editor, Fortune; Co-chair, Fortune Impact Initiative
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00:00We're going to start out with some questions that I have for Jason and Calvin, but we also
00:05would love to hear some questions from the audience, so I hope you can all start thinking
00:09of questions for our esteemed guests.
00:12We'll be sending mics around a little bit later on.
00:15I'd love to start, Jason.
00:18You've talked about democratizing healthy grocery shopping in this era of high inflation,
00:23about price reductions that Whole Foods has carried out kind of across the board.
00:28Calvin, I know that affordability is also very important to you, given that 22% of Exelon's
00:34customers are economically disadvantaged.
00:37How do you balance your sustainability goals with addressing the needs of financially stretched
00:43customers?
00:44Or put another way, how do you resist the temptation to compromise on your sustainability
00:49goals in order to offer your customers lower prices?
00:52Maybe we could start with you, Jason.
00:54Yeah.
00:55Happy to.
00:56Thank you for having me here today.
00:58For us, balancing and finding those win-win-win solutions has been a really important part
01:03of Whole Foods Market since we opened our very first store 44 years ago, and practicing
01:09things like climate-friendly agriculture have been an integral part of our company's offering,
01:14whether it was organic back when we first started to supporting things like regenerative
01:19today as well.
01:20For us, it's finding the balance of how do we make sure that we can support value and
01:25quality for our customers.
01:27So I've been really proud of the work that we've been doing in reducing over 25% of prices
01:32across items within our stores, doubling the number of promotions from 2023 to 2024.
01:38And for us, doing all of that without sacrificing quality, so ultimately holding to our high
01:43quality standards.
01:45And our goal is to find those win-win-wins where we can balance impacts to the environment,
01:50do great things for customers, suppliers, and the environment alike.
01:56Calvin, do you want to dive in on that one?
01:59Sure.
02:00First off, let me begin by saying good afternoon and thank you for having me.
02:02Thank you so much for being here.
02:03And I love the way you framed the question, because it's not an either or, it's definitely
02:07an and.
02:09You started off with a statistic that was 22% of my customer base is from under-resourced
02:15communities.
02:16So as a utility, if I'm going to serve my customer base and recognizing the 22%, and
02:24then I also have some of the highest income zip codes in the country as well.
02:30And my number one job as the CEO of a utility company is to serve all of my customers.
02:36So for me, it's definitely an and, and I have to do this in an equitable manner.
02:40And what I mean by that is that as we begin this energy transformation, and I'm investing
02:45capital, I can't leave any neighborhood behind.
02:49We have the privilege of serving the nation's capital, and I'll use them as an example.
02:53For those of you who go to DC, the second ward is one of the most affluent wards in
02:59the nation's capital.
03:00The eighth ward is one of the most under-resourced.
03:04Their needs are very different, but I have to serve both of them.
03:08And that's why affordability must be at the top of that list of everything I do.
03:13But this is what I also know, and we talked a little bit about this.
03:17All the things that I get to do and all the things that I'm being asked to do, if I don't
03:21keep the lights on and the gas flowing, it doesn't matter.
03:24So that reliability and resiliency also must be at the list.
03:28So when you talk about priorities, it's a one and one A. And depending on who I talk
03:33to, it's what their priority is and how I need to show up.
03:36Right.
03:37Right.
03:38We talked about storytelling quite a lot.
03:41Calvin, some of Exelon's initiatives, like reconductoring or investing in battery technology,
03:48are kind of back-end changes.
03:51They're certainly hugely important, but they're not necessarily that visible or easy to explain
03:56to customers.
03:58And I'd say the same, Jason, of initiatives at Whole Foods, like your approach to food
04:02waste.
04:04How do you think about telling customers those stories?
04:07And I guess, as a part of that, how much appetite and curiosity do your customers have
04:13for hearing these stories?
04:16Depends on the customer.
04:17Yeah.
04:18Some of you want to hear about it each and every day, and you want to start with, hey,
04:21what are you doing to help me get a battery charger at my home to charge my car?
04:26Some of you are saying, what can I do to get my solar panels put on my house quick enough?
04:31But once again, different customers have different priorities.
04:34And I love the way you framed it, is that so much of what we do, you don't even know.
04:39But it's setting it up for the future of that grid, the resiliency of that grid.
04:44You think about what's happening right now, and I heard one of the panels a couple panels
04:47ago talk about Hurricane Helene and now Milton coming through.
04:52That's when you talk about the grid, and it's at the forefront.
04:54You're feeling it right now in real time.
04:57And you're saying, why wasn't that utility ready for this?
05:01Because that's the question that everyone's going to ask when they get to the third or
05:04fourth day without power.
05:06And by the way, you're all very impatient right about now.
05:09You know that hurricane's coming, and after about 48 hours, you lose all patience.
05:13But that's okay.
05:14We know that.
05:15So having said that, what are our investments that we're making today to make that grid
05:20more resilient?
05:21And I look at resiliency as the ability to get back online sooner rather than later.
05:27And that's what we're trying to do.
05:29And I think for us, we're fortunate we have probably some of the most passionate consumers
05:34as it relates to sustainability, sustainable seafood sourcing, animal welfare standards.
05:41And so in many cases, we've got a set of customers who are coming to us because we do the homework
05:45for them in this space.
05:47But there's a lot of customers who are coming because we have great deals, because we have
05:50high quality food.
05:51And so being able to tell the story of the why, why we're doing the work that we are,
05:57I think becomes really, really important.
06:00And I think whether it's Whole Foods and other brands, our responsibility is to help tell
06:04that story and bring the transparency to customers so they understand the impact that they have
06:10based upon their decisions.
06:12And whether it relates to how we're reducing food waste, to reducing our carbon emissions,
06:18to ultimately helping support sustainable waterways and oceans, that impact is really
06:25important to understand as we make those buying decisions.
06:27So I think it's our job to help tell the story, work with brands and producers and farmers
06:33and understanding why we're doing the work that we are.
06:35Right.
06:36I guess I think sometimes customers can become a little cynical about this.
06:41We talk about these things so much.
06:42You hear terms like greenwashing thrown around.
06:45Sometimes.
06:46How do you, do you kind of factor that in to these conversations?
06:52How do you make it, you know, make people feel this is important without necessarily
07:00kind of making them feel that they're lectured to or kind of being told off in some way?
07:07Well, I think that's a really important balance that we have to strike.
07:10And, you know, one of the things that we put into place is we require, you know, third
07:14party certification.
07:15So take, for example, Regenerative.
07:17We're the only national retailer right now that will, has to ensure that all of our products
07:23that have Regenerative on our labels are third party certified.
07:26And so we've got a series of certifiers that we work with in this space.
07:30And so what we believe we need to do is make sure that there's integrity that stands behind
07:34it.
07:35And so customers don't have that distrust.
07:37And as I was saying earlier, we want to do the homework for our customers so they don't
07:40have to, is the ultimate goal.
07:42And so our goal is to help build that trust.
07:45And I think one of the other ways we can do is start to talk about the impacts of us not
07:49supporting this.
07:50You know, one of the things that is the true reality here is, you know, our food systems
07:54are under jeopardy right now.
07:56If we don't do something different in the next 50 to 100 years, the products that we
08:00know and love today, we're not going to be able to grow all of them.
08:03And at the same time, we're losing the nutrient density in these products.
08:06So every single year, we're losing that nutrient density from our soil.
08:09And so we have to bring different practices in place.
08:12And so I think a big part of it is, at the same time, not being alarmist, but also like
08:18pointing out if we don't do something different, this is the situation we're going to be in.
08:23And I would just say for Exeline, our goal is to lead with transparency.
08:28Every year we issue our sustainability report.
08:30We just did it.
08:31And you can go online and pull it up.
08:34And in that sustainability report, you will see that we've reduced our business driven
08:38emissions significantly since 2015.
08:42And we focus on that.
08:44We were also one of the last companies, we were slow out the gate in announcing our path
08:49to clean our emissions driven goals.
08:53And we did that for a very real reason, is that anything that we said, we wanted it to
08:59be measurable and attainable.
09:01So when I tell you that we're going to be net zero business driven emissions by 2050,
09:06the first reaction I got when I came out the gate was, that's kind of late.
09:11But I said, I got a line of sight to 80% of that by 2035.
09:17The last 20% is going to be technology dependent.
09:21So I didn't want to state a goal that I didn't have a clear line of how I would achieve it.
09:26And then I also challenged people that once we say we're at someplace, ask us and we can
09:31show you the data to back it up.
09:34And that's what's important for us as a utility company, because we're never going to tell
09:38you something that we cannot do or have a line of sight to achieving.
09:42Sunny El-Aboua, our Chief Sustainability Officer is here.
09:46And we take very, we're very diligent about what we put out in the public space, because
09:51we never want that credibility to be eroded.
09:54So it's very important for us.
09:56Absolutely.
09:57I'm going to now say if there's anyone who has any questions, I see a question over here.
10:03I'd ask that we have some mic handlers who are going to come over.
10:06I just ask that you stand and please state your name and the company that you're representing
10:13here.
10:14This is Khoja Sheikh, a fascinating panel.
10:16We are entering an era where the businesses and the government should work together for
10:23the value creation.
10:25Now in the context of the electric industry, Exelon, or in the food industry, and in the
10:33things that are going on under the Department of Justice, the trust arena, what are the
10:39one or two strategies that you are looking into to make sure we work with the government
10:47to drive value?
10:49Because we alone cannot do it together, because at the end of the day, it's the customers,
10:55communities, education institutions, every stakeholder matters.
11:00If you don't mind, I'll start, Jason.
11:03Let me just capture to your point, public-private partnerships are critical to any level of
11:08success we're going to achieve.
11:10I give this administration a lot of credit for the passing of the Infrastructure Investment
11:15Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, because those were critical elements to spearheading
11:22everything that we did and how we partnered with our communities.
11:26Directly, I don't benefit from that, but what it has done is accelerated the adoption of
11:32electric buses.
11:34It's accelerated buildings going all electric.
11:37It's accelerated decarbonization in urban areas and rural areas that would not have
11:43happened because of the expense of getting it done.
11:47What I've shared with Secretary Granholm and others is that not only are those billions
11:51being put to work, we're partnering and putting our own capital on top of that, and it's a
11:56true example of one plus one equaling three.
12:00That's the benefit of that partnership.
12:01We talk regularly with not only Secretary Granholm at DOE, but Secretary Raimondo at
12:06Department of Commerce.
12:07I noticed you had Ali Zaidi up here earlier.
12:10Those are conversations on a weekly basis that we're doing and we're having, because
12:15this administration is all into it.
12:17Now, I wish it was happening quicker.
12:21The challenge for it happening quicker is that there's not always an alignment between
12:27federal legislation and what's happening at the state level in terms of the regulatory
12:32policies.
12:33The utilities may be looking to run and put that money to work, but state policies are
12:38slowing it down, and we're working to get that done.
12:43I love this question.
12:44I'd love to just throw in also how you're thinking about November.
12:47Really?
12:48You're going to have ... I'll jump in on the food side.
12:52You answered November.
12:53There you go.
12:54I'm going to jump in on the food side.
12:56For us to be able to protect the future of our food systems, we have to change our farming
13:00practices.
13:01It's going to require the public and private sectors to work together.
13:05Today we have so many different incentives and subsidies that are actually incenting
13:09the wrong behaviors of where we need to go.
13:12It has to be a collective set of work.
13:16I think what's more important than November is we need bipartisan collaboration to support
13:22this.
13:23As I sometimes share, we have red and blue states that are some of the largest producers
13:27of produce and goods that we have in this country from our farms, and we have to work
13:31together to find solutions so we can help bring these changes and put them into place.
13:39Just picking up on that, one of the things that you've said, Jason, is that there's a
13:43danger of a kind of whack-a-mole approach across industries where efforts to solve one
13:48problem in one industry can end up causing problems in another industry.
13:53A classic example is corn ethanol, the biofuel, leading to or impacting food production.
14:06Working with the government is a part of that.
14:07Do you see any kind of path of working across industries, as Zakiya Carr-Johnson talked
14:12about a little bit earlier also?
14:14I think we have to.
14:16Some of the examples that you just mentioned, we're in a situation right now where across
14:20this country only 1% of our farmlands are certified organic.
14:25The pressure in many cases of farmers to move to producing corn for the purposes of energy
14:32is increasing, and the demand is going to get higher.
14:34If you look, as an example, the airline industry has got a number of solutions where corn is
14:39going to be a major dependency in helping support some of their sustainability goals.
14:44It's great on things that they're able to do, but we have to say, what is that going
14:46to be doing in our food systems?
14:49We need support both across industry, but we also need help from some of our government
14:53partners here to make sure that we've got the right incentives in place so we can protect
14:57our food systems and continue to support other industries in meeting their goals as well.
15:01Do you want to weigh in on that one, Calvin?
15:05No, I'm teasing.
15:08I think it applies.
15:09Is there a part of that from the energy perspective you'd like me to dig in on?
15:13I think that the collaboration across industries in particular, is that realistic, or is that
15:20kind of pie in the sky?
15:21No, it's definitely realistic.
15:24You look at, we're at the forefront for at least the last 40 to 50 years where we're
15:29seeing load growth in the electric sector.
15:32You talk about data centers, the load growth, depending on who you talk to, and doing that
15:38in a sustainable way, in a clean way, is critical.
15:42Because depending on, once again, who you talk to, it could be three to five X over
15:45the next decade.
15:47Data centers for our national security, for information flow based here in the US is going
15:54to be critical.
15:56How we do that and still manage to provide adequate clean energy to those data centers
16:03is important.
16:05That's where the collaboration and partnership really shows, and the security of the system.
16:10Unfortunately, most of you don't have to think about protecting the grid, but the grid is
16:15critical infrastructure.
16:16When you look at any major disturbance across the world, the first thing they go after is
16:20the grid.
16:23That's also something that we put at the forefront.
16:26Not only with the data center developers, but also with the national federal government
16:31in terms of making sure those assets are protected, that collaboration and partnership is critical.
16:37Absolutely.
16:38With our last couple of minutes, I'd love to just end on a note of what are your biggest
16:43concerns about the future, but also what makes you feel optimistic?
16:47I'm happy to jump in.
16:50I mentioned a little bit earlier, we have to protect the future of our food systems
16:55for future generations.
16:57That's going to require us to implement more climate-friendly agriculture practices overall.
17:02I'm hopeful that we're actually going to be able to achieve that, because as I look at
17:07some of our future generations, and specifically Gen Z, this is something they really care about.
17:1270% of Gen Z-ers support climate-friendly agriculture practices.
17:1655% of them even will pay more for those products.
17:20They really want to make sure that there's authenticity behind it.
17:24I'm very hopeful that we'll be able to help address this in the future.
17:27I love that.
17:29I will tell you my biggest concerns, and it wouldn't surprise you, is the reliability
17:32and resiliency of the system, affordability, and resource adequacy, meaning that having
17:38enough power to supply all the things that you as our customers want.
17:43Depending on the audience, it could be one 1A and 1B, because at different points, different
17:48customers.
17:49Those are the three issues that I think about on a regular basis.
17:52Why am I optimistic?
17:54Because here in the United States, we operate one of the most reliable and resilient grids
17:57across the world.
17:59Sometimes it may feel that way, but we have to get better, because you as customers, your
18:04expectations are very different for us today than they were a year ago.
18:09We're being asked to do different things with the grid today and tomorrow than we ever had
18:14to do.
18:15We have to get better.
18:17I'm optimistic because I know we'll be able to step up.
18:20The last thing I would say I'm optimistic is the workforce of the future, picking up
18:24what Jason just said.
18:25I started my day opening a STEM center in an elementary school in Prince George's County.
18:30To see those young elementary kids just really go to those STEM packages with the teachers,
18:38not read the instructions and go right in, where the rest of us my age were looking like,
18:42okay, what do we do here?
18:44They're excited about science, technology, engineering, and math.
18:47All we need to do is empower them and give them the resources, and they will be our future
18:52scientists and mathematicians in the future.
18:54That gets me excited.
18:55I love that.
18:56Well, thank you so much for our esteemed panelists, and thank you so much to our audience
19:00for your thoughtful engagement.