IBM Sustainability News, Milestones, Software Partnerships and Net Zero Timeline

Here is additional IBM sustainability news and milestones.

November 2023: IBM Sustainability Milestones

Multiple updates...

• COP28 News:  The company will apply the company's geospatial AI technologies, including IBM's geospatial foundation model developed in collaboration with NASA, to "climate efforts including analysis of urban heat islands in the United Arab Emirates (UAE); reforestation across Kenya; and climate resiliency in the United Kingdom (UK)," the company said.
• Partnership - Generative AI and Fuel Cells: The company and FuelCell Energy will leverage Foundational Models, a form of generative AI, to boost the performance of FuelCell Energy’s technology. The overall goal is to "support both companies’ efforts to lead a global transition to renewable energy sources that emit little to no carbon," IBM and FuelCell Energy said.
• Data Integration: Global IT consulting firm Deloitte and IBM are integrating their sustainability software to "help clients accelerate emissions reductions strategies and make sustainability programs an embedded part of their organization’s core business."
• Training: IBM SkillsBuild has launched free educational courses focused on sustainability. The courses, IBM said, include: (1) Introductory courses will help establish a foundation with historical insights and fundamentals to connect sustainability and technology. (2) Mid-level offerings in design thinking and green entrepreneurship will encourage learners to grow their skills. (3) Advanced coursework will ask learners to apply their skills to sustainability topics across AI, cybersecurity, and ESG reporting.
• Sustainability Accelerator: The IBM Sustainability Accelerator announced five new projects focused on water management. Participants include The University of Sharjah, The University of Chicago Trust in Delhi, The University of Illinois, Instituto IGUÁ and Water Corporation.

October 2023: Sustainability Milestones

• Sustainable Supply Chains: Demand for Asset & Supply Chain Management software continues to grow, and the company continues to help customers run sustainable operations, CFO Jim Kavanaugh said during IBM's earnings call. CEO Arvind Krishna also weighed in, stating: "Businesses and governments around the world are looking for opportunities to address demographic shifts, make their supply chains more resilient and improve sustainability." Actual revenue figures for IBM's supply chain software and associated sustainability consulting services were not disclosed.

September 2023: Sustainability Milestones

• IT Solutions for Sustainability: Nearly 90% of midsize and large organizations plan to increase their IT spending on sustainability over the next year, an IBM survey of global business leaders found. 
• ESG Software - Scope 3 Emissions: IBM's software can help organizations accelerate the capture, calculation and analysis of Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The solution involves the integration of NLP in the IBM Envizi ESG Suite, the technology company said.
• Food Supply Chains: The company and iFoodDS launched a software solution to address the FDA's Food Traceability Rule, FSMA 204(d). The new solution is called iFoodDS Trace Exchange. According to Christina Shim, global head of product management & strategy, IBM Sustainability Software: "By collaborating with iFoodDS, we can provide even more help to enterprise clients and their trading partners as they work to become FSMA compliant and can take a major step toward the industry's goal of creating a safer, transparent, and sustainable food supply chain."
• AI Training:  The company committed to train two million learners in AI by the end of 2026, with a focus on underrepresented communities. 

August 2023: IBM Sustainability Milestones

• COP28 Conference and AI Software: IBM will sponsor the COP28 conference. The effort will include emphasizing Watsonx to help organizations build AI (artificial intelligence) applications that drive sustainability and efficiency.
• AI and Sustainability: IBM has developed a prototype "brain-like" chip that could make artificial intelligence (AI) more energy efficient, BBC reported.
• Artificial Intelligence for Sustainability: IBM is touting AI as a way to "accelerates the conversion of data into sustainability insights that help leaders make informed decisions in real-time." Still, AI applications can also boost energy consumption and associated carbon emissions, some critics have warned.

July 2023: IBM Sustainability Strategy Milestones

Multiple updates...

• Cloud Carbon Calculator - General Availability: IBM has launched a Cloud Carbon Calculator dashboard to "help enterprises track greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across cloud services and advance their sustainability performance throughout their hybrid, multicloud journeys," the company said.
• Data Center Engagement: Digital Realty will leverage IBM Envizi ESG software suite to gather and manage sustainability data across more than 300 data centers worldwide, the two companies disclosed today.

May 2023: Sustainability Strategy Milestones

• Cloud Carbon Calculator - Beta Test: The calculator is an "AI-informed" that's "dashboard designed to give clients access to standards-based cloud emissions data for IBM Cloud workloads with just a few clicks." The calculator is in beta testing as of May 2023.

April 2023: Sustainability Strategy Milestones

Multiple updates...

• Partnership - New York Stock Exchange: The company is collaborating with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to help support NYSE-listed companies with their environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts. The effort involves limited-time software discounts for IBM Envizi ESG Suite.
• Partnership - ERP Software: An SAP partnership involves ERP software sustainability initiatives. ERP, short for Enterprise Resource Planning, typically involves a suite of back-end business management software.
• New York Center for Climate Solutions: Multiple organizations -- including IBM, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Stony Brook University -- vowed to support the $700 million center.
• Sustainability Strategy: The company provided an update on its sustainability strategy here.
• IBM Revenues & Sustainability Opportunities: "Many clients are leveraging our technology and expertise to advance their sustainability agendas," IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said during the company's April 2023 earnings call. He touted partnerships involving EY's sustainability consulting practice, and a relationship involving Siemens that "integrates software from both companies to enable sustainable product development." Still, Krishna did not share any specific facts, figures or research to pinpoint the size of the sustainability opportunity.
• Partnership: The company and Siemens Digital Industries Software are expanding their partnership to "develop a combined software solution integrating their respective offerings for systems engineering, service lifecycle management and asset management," the companies said.
• Research - Consumer Goods, IT Spending & Sustainability: Consumer goods companies are boosting their technology budgets by 34% to align sustainability and operations and drive growth, according to a study from the company and The Consumer Goods Forum.
• Mainframes: The company is positioning new z16 and LinuxONE solutions to help customers consolidate their servers and reduce data center energy consumption by 75%.

March 2023: IBM Sustainability Strategy Milestones

Multiple updates...

• Partnership - IT Consulting: EY Consulting & IBM Software partnered to assist customers with sustainability strategies in such carbon-heavy industries as civil infrastructure, telecom, energy, mobility & manufacturing.
• Request for Proposals: The company is accepting proposals for the next cohort of the IBM Sustainability Accelerator, which will focus on water management solutions. This program "applies IBM technologies, such as hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence, and an ecosystem of experts to enhance and scale projects focused on populations vulnerable to environmental threats," the company said.
• Engagement: etisalat by e& will leverage IBM sustainability software to help to help the company's environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy. 

February 2023: Sustainability Strategy Milestones

• Call for Code: IBM's 2023 Call for Code Global Challenge is now open to participants who are developing clean energy solutions and more.

January 2023: IBM Sustainability Strategy Milestones

• CIO Sustainability Priorities: The latest sustainability priorities from IBM CIO Kathryn Guarini and SAP Chief Digital and Information Officer Florian Roth are here from The Wall Street Journal.
• Research - CEOs on Sustainability: Fully 81% of organizations have a sustainability strategy in place and 53% of the CEOs rated sustainability as a top priority, according to an IBM CEO Study from 2022. However, only 35% of the polled organizations have started executing sustainability initiatives, the study revealed.

Note: This blog originally published in July 2023. Regularly updated thereafter.