Here is today’s sustainability news, research and analysis for technology partners, management consultants, CIOs, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) and c-suite members.
Got News to Share? Email me the details.
A. Sustainable Technology Developments
1. Enterprise Technology: IBM provides an update on its sustainability strategy here.
2. IT Consulting: Tata Communications committed to be net zero by 2035, and outlined a 3C strategy for itself and customers. The 3C strategy involves climate action, customer GHG (green house gas emission) savings, and circular economies in India.
3. IT Services: BT has launched various services that help customers to measure energy consumption and carbon footprints, and to design modern networks that align with sustainability goals.
4. SAP Earnings: During SAP's quarterly earnings call in April, the enterprise software company emphasized "continued momentum" for the company's Sustainability Control Tower solutions. Early adopters include Soleum, a Brazilian producer of raw materials, SAP said. Still, SAP did not disclose actual revenue or profit figures associated with the sustainability push.
5. Michigan - Data Centers: US Signal plans to transition all of its data centers and offices in Michigan to run entirely on renewable energy sources by 2026. US Signal has four data centers in Michigan, and the company's headquarters is in Grand Rapids.
6. Chromebook Churn - E-Waste Concerns: Critics are raising e-waste concerns about Chromebook Churn in schools.
7. Consulting: KPMG has named Richard Andrews to become the firm's UK head for ESG. Andrews succeeds John McCalla-Leavy, who became global ESG head in October 2022, Bloomberg Law reported.
8. Investment Services: Clayton, Dubilier & Rice named Hannah-Polly Williams as a director and the head of ESG in Europe. She will work closely with CD&R's European investment teams and the U.S. and Global ESG team to "accelerate initiatives that create value for the firm's portfolio companies in the UK and Europe," the investment firm said.
B. Sustainability Partnerships, Alliances, M&A & Investments
1. ESG Software: As an extension of Deloitte and Workiva's existing strategic alliance, Deloitte released three new sustainability-focused accelerators to assist with more effective ESG reporting, including Scope 3 emissions calculations and dashboarding, continuous controls monitoring (CCM), and ESG report templating, the company said.
2. Green Buildings & Communities: Construction software maker cove.tool and Zauben are partnering to help architects, engineers and construction professionals to help design community infrastructure that's more sustainable.
3. Renewable Energy Transmission: SuperNode and CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics), have launched a "collaboration to develop a novel type of insulation for superconducting cables, in an effort to improve energy transmission and accelerate the transition to renewable energy," the organizations said.
4. Solar Farm: Stanley Black & Decker partnered with Castillo Engineering and RPG Energy Group to build and unveil a 4.3 MW solar farm in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The solar farm is the state's largest privately funded on-site solar project that is 100% renewable energy sourced, the firms said. Covering nearly 15 acres, the solar field produces enough clean energy to power Stanley Black & Decker's 280,000 sq. ft onsite production facility while also providing excess energy back to the state. The project is estimated to deliver 5,500 metrics tons of C02 reductions and an annual energy savings of $400,000, the organizations added.
5. Higher Education: Eastern Michigan University has entered into a 50-year partnership with Eagle Energy Partners, a consortium consisting of CenTrio Energy, Noresco, and Burns & McDonnell, all of which "bring deep energy-sector expertise to modernize utility systems and improve sustainability efforts," the organizations said.
6. Investment Index: MarketVector Indexes and Etho Capital are partnering to focus on sustainable investment strategies. Together, the firms have co-launched the ETHO MarketVector Global Climate Positive Index (ticker: ETHOI). The index is designed to “replace broad-based global benchmark indexes with an investable index solution that seeks to deliver net climate benefits rather than just less harm.”
C. Regional and Global Sustainability News
1. United States - Solar Energy Investments: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced investments totaling $82 million to increase domestic solar manufacturing and recycling, and to strengthen the American clean energy grid.
2. United States - Texas & Wind Energy: DuPont's Appaloosa Run Wind Energy Center, a wind energy project in Upton County, Texas -- is operational and generating clean, renewable energy. It will deliver the clean energy equivalent to avoiding the carbon emissions from more than 81,000 passenger cars driven each year, or the annual electricity consumption of nearly 70,000 homes, the company said.
3. United States - New York Mass Transit: New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the largest transit system in the country, plans to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 85% across the system by 2040, Bloomberg reported.
4. Canada: The country's main oil-producing province Alberta released a climate plan aiming for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but did not announce any interim targets in a move that puts it at odds with the federal government's strategy, Reuters reported.
5. India - Aviation & Transportation: Twenty-five airports in the country are using 100% green energy while another 121 airports will be made carbon neutral by 2025, Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said, according to The Economic Times.
6. South America - Green Data Center: HostDime's new Tier IV Colombia Data Center has received the EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) certificate, which is awarded to buildings that demonstrate resource efficiency of at least 20 percent in energy, water, and embodied energy in materials, the data center provider said.
Send Us Your News Tips: Got news or chatter to share? Please email me.
