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. Executive Leadership - Consulting: ERM, which claims to be the world’s largest specialist sustainability consultancy, has hired ENGIE Impact veteran Mathias Lelievre as regional CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
2. Partnership - Building Decarbonization: CBRE and Johnson Controls are partnering to help customers decarbonize their commercial real estate assets in Continental Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. The combined effort spans project scoping, development, funding, execution and performance monitoring into one program.
3. ITAD and Carbon Reporting Software: SK tes, an IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) and e-waste reduction specialist, has released a climate reporting tool called Carbon Loop Report. The allows customers to report verified carbon savings associated with their ITAD initiatives. SK tes was formed by the merger of SK and TES in 2022.
4. AI and Energy Efficiency: While some data center providers are struggling to find more energy to run AI applications, Nvidia Senior Director Joshua Parker says AI and accelerated computing are "driving energy efficiency and offering innovative solutions to global sustainability challenges," according to a podcast interview.
5. AI Workforce Skills: Generative AIÂ will spawn new roles in software engineering and operations, requiring 80% of the engineering workforce to upskill, Gartner predicted.
6. Tesla Loses CIO: Tesla CIO Nagesh Saldi is leaving the EV maker, Bloomberg reported. Saldi is known for his focus on Tesla's data center strategy -- which ultimately powers the company's self-driving, robotics and robotaxi software efforts.
7. EV Production Weakness: Rivian Automotive produced 13,157 vehicles at its manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois for the quarter that ended on September 30 and delivered 10,018 vehicles during the same period, SeekingAlpha reported. Those EV production figures were slightly below the consensus expectation of analysts, the report said.
8. EV Battery Question Marks: Northvolt, launched by former Tesla executives in 2015, recently had layoffs, and is facing multiple business question marks, The Wall Street Journal reports.
9. Carbon Credits - Alleged Fraud: Two former executives of carbon-credit project developer CQC Impact Investors have been charged with fraud, The Wall Street Journal reported. Former CEO Kenneth Newcombe and former executive Tridip Goswami "used falsified data to get an issuer of voluntary carbon credits to verify reductions in emissions that hadn’t been achieved," the report alleged.
B. Sustainability M&A, Climate Tech Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. Incubator: Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning Limited will launch a startup incubator in Kadi, Gujarat, The Economic Times of India reported in October 2024. The incubator plans to support manufacturing-focused startups that foster technological advancements, sustainability, and energy efficiency. The incubator involves a partnership with India's Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). We don't know when the incubator will select its first cohort of startups.
2. Financing - EV Charging: EVgo has received a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee of up to $1.05 billion of debt financing, from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office. The financing paves the way for EVgo to build out approximately 7,500 additional fast charging stalls across the United States. EVgo named a new CFO in September 2024 and shook up its executive management team in early 2024 after a CEO succession in late 2023.
3. Funding - Renewable Energy: India's Jakson Green is closing in on a more than 40 billion-rupee ($476.4 million) fundraise to expand its renewable energy capacity, Reuters reported.
4. Fund: The multilateral Climate Investment Funds plans to invest up to $1 billion to help accelerate the development of technologies to cut climate-damaging industrial sector emissions in developing countries, Reuters reported.
5. M&A - Liquid Cooling and Data Centers: Jabil has acquired Mikros Technologies, a provider of liquid cooling solutions for thermal management. Many data center owners increasingly leverage liquid cooling to offset heat from hardware that runs AI workloads. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
6. M&A - Consulting: SLR Consulting (SLR) has acquired Malk Partners, an ESG consultancy for financial services firms. Malk’s expertise spans private equity, growth equity, venture capital, credit, real estate, and infrastructure asset classes, the company said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
7. M&A - HVAC Expertise: Aeroseal has acquired Advanced World Trading (AWT), a Saudi Arabian firm t8hat specializes in energy savings and air duct sealing. AWT will be rebranded as Aeroseal Arabia. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
8. 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 - Coal Energy Shutdown Delay: Duke Energy plans to extend the life of its largest coal-fired power plant, pushing aside its climate goal to shutter all facilities that burn the dirty fuel by 2035, Bloomberg reported.
2. Britain - Carbon Capture Projects: Britain will provide funding of up to 21.7 billion pounds ($28.5 billion) over 25 years to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects to curb emissions from industry and create new jobs in northern England, Reuters reported.
3. Spain - Solar Energy Surplus: Spain has an excess supply of solar energy, and the country may therefore curb some new solar projects, Bloomberg reported.
D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- Sustainable Industry Live 2024Â (October 6, Manchester, United Kingdom)
- Hamburg Sustainability Conference 2024Â (October 7-8, Hamburg, Germany)
- Sustainable Investment USA 2024Â (October 7-8, New York, New York)
- Clean Energy Transition Asia (CETA) Exhibition and Summit 2024Â (October 9-11, Malaysia)
- IGEM 2024: International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia (October 9-11, Malaysia)
- Complete Calendar of Sustainability Conferences
E. Previous Updates & Future News
