Sustainability News for Green IT and Technology Partners: 16 August 2023

Here is today’s sustainability news, research and analysis for technology partners, renewable energy and green IT companies, management consultants, CIOs, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) and c-suite members.

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A. Sustainable Technology, Talent, Partnerships and Alliances

1. Annual ESG Reports: Our global database of annual sustainability and ESG reports now spans 271 companies. The latest addition is Leviton, a developer of lighting, data network and energy management solutions.

2. Chief Sustainability Officers (CSO) List: Our database of chief sustainability officers now spans 308 CSOs. The latest additions include:

• FINN Partners, a global integrated marketing and communications agency, has promoted Brianne Chai-Onn to senior partner in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) & Social Impact Group and the agency's Purpose and Social Impact Practice.
• JTC has appointed David Vieira as group head of sustainability services. Viera succeeds Wendy Holley, JTC’s first chief sustainability officer. Holley remains chief operating officer.
• Ross Goldman, chief sustainability officer at Leviton, and executive VP and GM of Leviton Network Solutions.

3. Executive Leadership - Financial Services: Private markets firm Stafford Capital Partners has named Marta Jankovic as named head of sustainability.

4. Board of Directors: Werner Baumann, formerly CEO and chief sustainability officer at Bayer AG, has joined the AmerisourceBergen Corporation board of directors.

5. IT Services: Umbraco, a Web content management system built on the Microsoft stack, is aligning with channel partners to formulate a sustainability strategy, TechTarget reported.

6. Cloud Sustainability: Sust Global, a developer of climate risk data analytics and APIs, has achieved the Google Cloud Ready – Sustainability designation in the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program.

7. Railroads - Sustainability Software: Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is promoting Altrios, an open source software platform that allows the railroad industry to assess green locomotive technologies and infrastructure expansion.

8. Research - ESG Perceptions: IPSOS has launched ESG Watch -- which surveyed 3,000 Americans for their views of 30 companies operating in 6 different sectors.

9. Solar Equipment Manufacturing - Forced Labor: U.S. solar panel maker First Solar said an audit of its manufacturing operations had uncovered unethical labor practices at its Malaysia factory, sending the company's shares down about 5%, Reuters reported.

10. Solar Energy - California: Electrify America Solar Glow 1 -- a solar photovoltaic renewable energy generation project in San Bernardino County, California -- is now online.

B. Sustainability M&A, Investments and Funding

1. M&A - Carbon Capture Technology: Warren Buffett-backed Occidental Petroleum Corp. will buy Canadian startup Carbon Engineering Ltd. for $1.1 billion as the oil producer expands its position as a leader in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Bloomberg reported.

2. M&A - Wind Power: One Energy Enterprises Inc., a renewable power company focused on industrial clients, is going public via a blank-check deal valuing the combined firm at $300 million on an enterprise basis, Bloomberg reported. One Energy, the largest installer of on-site, utility-scale wind energy in the U.S. for industrial and commercial customers, will merge with TortoiseEcofin Acquisition Corp. III to create One Power Co., listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ONEP, the report said.

3. All M&A Activity: Our M&A database has now tracked 118 mergers and acquisitions involving sustainability so far in 2023. See all M&A deals involving sustainability listed here.

C. Regional and Global Sustainability Policies and News

1. United States: U.S. President Joe Biden on August 15 marked the first anniversary of signing his signature clean energy legislation called the Inflation Reduction Act by leading a campaign to better explain to Americans what, exactly, it does, Reuters reported.

2. Puerto Rico: Activists and environmental groups including the Sierra Club sued Puerto Rico’s government on August 14, 2023 over the planned location of dozens of renewable energy projects meant to ease the U.S. territory’s power woes, the Associated Press reported.

3. Australia - Carbon Border Tax: Australia is moving forward with its plan to implement a carbon border tax in order to reach net zero emissions by 2050, Bloomberg reported.

D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar

1. World ESG Summit 2023 (August 21-22, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
2. VMware Explore 2023 (August 21-24, Las Vegas, Nevada)
3. Google Cloud Next 2023 Partner and Customer Conference (August 29-21, San Francisco)
4. Sustainability Live 2023 (Sept. 6-7, London, United Kingdom)
5. ICSD 2023 Sustainability Conference (September 6-7, Rome, Italy)
6. Complete Calendar of Sustainability Conferences

E. Previous Updates & Future News

1. Did You Miss Yesterday's Daily Update?: Here is our previous sustainability, green IT and renewable energy news for technology partners.

2. Future Updates: Send Us Your News Tips. Please email me the details.