Here is today’s sustainable IT services and climate tech news, research and analysis -- written for technology partners, green IT service providers, CIOs, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) and climate accounting professionals.
A. Sustainable IT, Talent, Partnerships and Green Tech Alliances
1. Talent - Real Estate Consulting: International real estate advisor Savills has expanded its Sustainability Consultancy team in its property management division with three hires. The hires include Olivier Garnier and Tom Bardwell as principal sustainability consultants, and Megan Steven as a senior climate risk and resilience consultant.
2. AI Lawsuit vs. Meta: Facebook parent Meta Platforms used pirated versions of copyrighted books to train its AI systems with approval from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a group of authors alleged in newly disclosed court papers, Reuters reported. Ta-Nehisi Coates, comedian Sarah Silverman and other authors suing Meta for copyright infringement made the accusations in filings made public on on January 8, 2025 in California federal court. The plaintiffs allege internal documents produced by Meta during the discovery process showed the company knew the works were pirated.
B. Sustainability M&A, Climate Tech Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. M&A - Environmental and IT Services: CSS Inc. has acquired Riverside Technology, which leverages satellite data to offer customers environmental decision support technologies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
2. M&A - Distributed Energy Resources: EQT has acquired Scale Microgrids, a developer and operator of microgrids and distributed energy resources that power customer infrastructure and reduce carbon emissions. The energy systems support commercial and industrial customers, electric vehicle (EV) fleets, data centers, municipalities, universities, hospitals, agricultural customers, and more. The seller was Warburg Pincus and other shareholders. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
3. M&A - IT Asset Disposition: Private equity firm Recognize has acquired a majority stake in Sprout, an IT asset disposition (ITAD) service provider. New Capital Partners remains a minority investor in the ITAD business. Related: List of ITAD Mergers and Acquisitions.
4. M&A - Reverse Logistics: DHL Supply Chain has acquired Inmar Supply Chain Solutions, a returns solutions provider for the retail e-commerce industry. The acquisition involves 14 return centers and around 800 employees joining DHL Supply Chain's North American business -- which already has 520 warehouses supported by 52,000 associates. The deal aligns with DHL's sustainability strategy and efforts to divert goods from landfills, the buyer said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
C. Regional and Global Sustainability Policies and News
1. United States - Financial Services: BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, said it will leave the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, the latest Wall Street firm to depart an environmentally focused investor group under pressure from Republican politicians, Reuters reported. Somewhat similarly, Citigroup, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley in early January 2025 became the latest global banks to exit the Net Zero Banking Alliance, Reuters reported. Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs exited the group in December 2024.
D. Sustainable IT and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- Sustainable and Impact Investments International Conference 2025 (January 14-15, Dublin, Ireland)
- World Future Energy Summit 2025 (January 14-16, Abu Dhabi)
- Davos 2025 -- World Economic Forum 2025 annual meeting (January 20-24, Switzerland)
- Sustainable Foods Summit 2025 (January 22-23, San Francisco, California)
- Cleantech Forum North America 2025 (January 27-29 in San Diego, California)
- Complete Calendar of Sustainability Conferences
E. Previous Updates & Future News
