Sustainable IT Services News 09 January 2026: Microsoft Quantum Investment; GreenSquareDC CEO Transition; More

Here is today's sustainable IT services news, research and analysis for channel partners, MSPs, climate accounting professionals, consultants and the chief sustainability officers (CSOs) they serve.

A. Sustainable IT Partnerships, Strategic Alliances and Strategies

1. IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) Services: Tech Defenders has launched Asset Deployment and Redeployment IT Asset Management (ITAM) services for customers across Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. The services allows customers to "manage devices from first deployment through redeployment, repair, and eventual retirement—all within a single, compliant lifecycle framework," Tech Defenders said.

2. Chief Sustainability Officer - Expands Role: Dow, the chemical and materials giant, has named chief sustainability officer Andre Argenton to the additional role of chief technology officer, effective January 1, 2026. He essentially succeeds A.N. Sreeram, senior VP and chief technology officer. Sreeram will retire June 30, 2026.

3. Executive Leadership - Data Centers: GreenSquareDC, a sustainable data center provider in Australia, has named promoted Chief Development Officer Charles Penny to CEO. Penny succeeds founder and inaugural CEO Walt Coulston, who shifts to a boardroom role.

4. Executive Leadership - Carbon Removal: Groundwork BioAg has hired Boston Consulting Group veteran Shawn Gagné as chief carbon commercial officer (CCCO), a "newly-created role underscoring the company’s commitment to scaling high-integrity, durable carbon dioxide removal (CDR)," the company said.

5. Electric Vehicle (EV) Market Slowdown: General Motors will take another $6 billion in charges tied to production cutbacks in its EV and battery operations as the financial fallout spreads from the weakening US market for EVs, Bloomberg reported. Rival Ford Motor in December 2025 said it would take $19.5 billion in charges to scale back its own EV business.

B. Sustainable IT Investments, Funding, Earnings and Business Launches

1. Energy Storage Asset Sale? Akaysha Energy of Australia is considering options to raise more funds, including selling a significant minority stake, as battery energy storage system (BESS) demand grows, Bloomberg reported.

2. Venture Capital Funding - Quantum Computing: Photonic has raised $130 million in a new funding round. Planet First Partners led the rough, with participation from Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Tellus and others. Existing investors Microsoft and BCI also participated in the round. Photonic has raised $271 million to date. Related: Quantum computing news timeline.

3. Private Equity Funding - Data Centers: KKR is making an additional $1.5 billion equity commitment to Global Technical Realty (GTR), a European built-to-suit data center platform. Oak Hill Capital also plans to invest roughly $400 million in the data center company. GTR designs and builds sustainable data centers for global hyper-scalers in key global markets.

C. Regional and Global Sustainability Policies, Regulations and News

1. United States - Municipal Partner Program: The city of Janesville, Wisconsin has launched a Green Business Partner Program. The program "promotes and celebrates sustainability leadership among local businesses," according to city leaders.

D. Sustainability Conferences, Summits and Events

1. World Future Energy Summit 2026 (January 13-15, UAE)
2. Sustainable and Impact Investments International Conference (January 22-23, Hamburg, Germany)
3. IMPACT Sustainability Travel and Tourism Summit 2026 (January 26-28, Victoria, BC, Canada)
4. Alabama Coastal Foundation 2026 Sustainability Summit (January 30, Gulf Shores)
5. Sustainable Retail Summit 2026 (February 3-6, Paris, France)
6. Complete Sustainability Conference Calendar

E. Previous Updates & Future News

1. Future Updates: If you have news to share then please email me the details.
2. Previous News: All of our daily news updates are here.