Here is today’s sustainable IT services news, research and analysis -- written for technology partners, green IT service providers, CIOs, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) and climate accounting professionals.
A. Sustainable Technology, Talent, Partnerships and Green IT Alliances
1. Green Careers - Training and Job Concerns: Accenture and Goodwill Industries International launched a pilot green jobs accelerator in four major US cities in early 2024, Bloomberg notes. Participants were initially told they could expect a salary of around $62,000 after completion, the report said. But several months after the pilot began, more than 60% of participants have yet to find work in the fields they trained in, Bloomberg reported.
2. ClimateTech Startups- Valley of Death?: Jim Adler, founder and general partner at Toyota Ventures, is concerned that climate technology gains could fall into the “valley of death” if companies fail to drum up enough demand to survive, TechCrunch reported.
3. Microsoft - Lessons Learned: Microsoft has introduced the Leader’s Guide to Sustainable Business Transformation, which offers "practical tips" on building a "culture and infrastructure around ESG data," and provides context for taking the Microsoft ESG Data Readiness Assessment, according to a blog from Sadie Williams, senior director of product marketing for sustainability.
4. Data Centers: ECL plans to build a "fully sustainable" 1GW AI Factory data center -- known as ECL TerraSite-TX1 -- on a 600+ acre site east of Houston. Lambda will be the first tenant. The overall site build will cost $8 billion. The initial phase, activated by summer of 2025, will cost roughly $450 million to build, ECL said.
5. Executive Transition - EHS Software: Cority, a provider of environmental, health, and safety (EHS) and sustainability software, has named CFO Ryan Magee to succeed CEO Mark Wallace, who is retiring. Private equity firm Thoma Bravo has owned Cority since 2019. Rumors about Thoma Bravo attempting to sell Cority for roughly $2 billion surfaced in August 2024.
6. Executive Leadership - EV Charging and Fleet Management: InCharge Energy, a provider of electric fleet charging and energy solutions, has hired ChargePoint veteran Rich Mohr as chief commercial officer. The company also hired Motional and Tesla veteran Zeb Dawson as VP of service operations.
7. Nuclear Power Rollouts: The nuclear power industry is set to add “gigawatts upon gigawatts” of capacity heading into the 2030s, while offshore wind in the U.S. sorts out its business model, according to GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik, The Wall Street Journal reported. Related Timeline: Nuclear Power for Generative AI Data Centers.
8. Partnership: SmartAC.com and Wrench Group have partnered to align HVAC service providers with home health monitoring technology. This proactive approach "leads to fewer expensive HVAC and plumbing service calls for homeowners, reduces downtime, extends life of their equipment/systems, and ensures a much better experience for everyone involved," the companies assert.
9. Partnership: Energy America and Vortex Technology Group have launched a joint venture aimed at "advancing sustainable energy technologies." Details about the effort were quite vague, though.
10. Report - Smart Building ROI: Smart building technology providers a competitive edge for commercial real estate companies, according to Forrester Consulting study conducted on behalf of Johnson Controls.
11. E-Waste Reduction: Attero has launched Selsmart, a Consumer Take-Back Program that supports the "responsible and sustainable collection, management, and recycling of electronic waste" in India.
12. Consulting: Pure Strategies, a sustainability consulting firm has issued a Call to Action for companies to Start Now!
13. Battery Management Solutions: LG Energy Solution has launched B.around, a business focused on battery management total solution (BMTS) services. The effort involves BMS software, BMS hardware, and solutions for SDV (software-defined vehicle) platforms. Moreover, LG Energy Solution is promoting Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) solutions to customers.
14. AI Lawsuit: A group of U.S. authors can depose Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a lawsuit accusing Meta of misusing copyrighted books to train its AI systems, Reuters reported. Meta had tried to block the group from questioning Zuckerberg.
15. AI and Sustainable IT Services: The technology industry needs to do a better job aligning AI with sustainability, NetApp CEO George Kurian told ITPro.
16. Artificial Intelligence Software - OpenAI CTO Resigns: OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati is leaving the generative AI software company. Murati's departure surfaces as OpenAI strives to raise additional funding while also reorganizing its business toward more of a for-profit model. CEO Sam Altman said the recent departure of top executives from OpenAI had nothing to do the planned company restructuring, Reuters reported.
B. Sustainability M&A, Climate Tech Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. Accelerator: Plug and Play accelerateAZ announced three corporate partners for the Sustainability Accelerator program. They are Honeywell Aerospace Technologies, NSF Engines: Southwest Sustainability Innovation Engine (SWSIE) and EPCOR. Arizona Commerce Authority developed the accelerator to "connect startups, innovative corporations, government agencies and leading universities."
2. Funding: TPG Rise Climate has secured $1.3 billion in initial capital commitments for its new Global South Initiative strategy (GSI), the company said.
3. M&A - IT Asset Disposition: Iron Mountain has acquired Wisetek, an ITAD company in Cork, Ireland, the Irish Examiner reported. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Iron Mountain has been an active ITAD business buyer. Earlier acquisitions include Regency Technologies and ITRenew. Related ITAD M&A List: ITAD Buyers, Sellers and Private Equity Investors.
4. M&A: Travalyst, a the sustainability organization founded by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has acquired the assets of Weeva, the business sustainability management startup that announced its closure in July 2024, PhocusWire reported.
5. Complete M&A List: Here's our database of all M&A deals involving green IT and renewable energy buyers, sellers and investors.
C. Regional and Global Sustainability Policies and News
1. United States - Hurricane Helene: The storm is expected to hit Tallahassee, Florida before moving north on Thursday night, September 26. We'll be checking in with local IT services businesses for a sustainability report in the days ahead.
D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- Climate Week New York City 2024 (September 22-27, New York, New York)
- CSE Sustainability and ESG Leadership Summit 2024 (September 30, New York, New York)
- E-Scrap Conference 2024 (September 30-October 2, Orlando, Florida)
- Sustainability Expo Europe 2024 (October 1-2, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
- Industrial Decarbonization North America 2024 (October 1-2, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- Complete Calendar of Sustainability Conferences
E. Previous Updates & Future News
Future Updates: If you have news to share then please email me the details.
Did You Miss Yesterday's Daily Update?: Here is our previous sustainability, green IT and renewable energy news for technology partners.
