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. Corporate Sustainability Reports List: Our database of corporate sustainability reports now spans 240 companies. The latest additions include e-commerce and cloud services giant Amazon (updated with 2022 report); industrial products specialist Ingersoll Rand, digital ad agency MCI Group, paper manufacturer Sylvamo; and enterprise software provider VMware.
2. Partnership - IT Consulting and Green Data Centers: HCLTech and Schneider Electric are partnering to develop sustainability solutions for data centers in the APAC (Asia Pacific) region, the two companies said.
3. Green Data Centers - Carbon Monitoring Software: 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.
4. Talent - Financial Services: M&A Investments has hired Credit Suisse veteran Michael van der Meer as head of sustainability.
5. Talent - Sustainable Infrastructure and Engineering: Verdantas, backed by private equity firm RTC Partners, will promote Chief Operating Officer Jesse Kropelnicki to succeed CEO Gerry Salontai, effective on September 1, 2023.
B. Sustainability M&A, Investments and Funding
1. Investment - Renewable Energy: Exorl, backed by the Agnelli family (founders of FIAT), partnered with the Impala fund to invest into renewable energy venture TagEnergy, Reuters reported. TagEnergy, founded in 2019 and based in Portugal, develops, finances, builds and operates wind and solar renewable energy projects, and provides energy storage and grid stabilization solutions. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.
2. Private Equity Fund: Phalanx Impact Partners has officially launched as a private equity firm focused on "companies building scalable solutions within the energy transition and sustainable economy."
3. Funding and M&A - Solar Project Design Software: PVcase has secured a joint investment of $100 million, bringing the company's total funding to over $123 million. Highland Europe, Energize and existing investor Elephant participated in the round. On a related note, PVcase recently acquired solar siting specialist Anderson Optimization. The result: European solar site developers will be able to cut their project design process from weeks to roughly 20 minutes, PVcase said.
4. M&A - Solar Facilities: Altus Power has acquired approximately 4.4 megawatts (MW) of operating solar assets in Southern California from private equity firm Apollo. The acquired portfolio includes rooftop, carport and ground-mounted solar arrays that will deliver power under long-term contracts to HP Inc., Keysight Technologies and a local municipality. These assets add to the approximately 112 MW Altus Power currently owns and operates in California, the buyer said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
5. All M&A Activity: Our M&A database has now tracked 105 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. US-China Meeting Recap: Ahead of the COP28 global climate conference, US climate envoy John Kerry met with China’s Vice President Han Zheng on his final day of talks in Beijing, after President Xi Jinping warned the nation won’t have its path to curb emissions dictated by others, Bloomberg reported. Kerry has called for fresh cooperation between the world’s top two polluters. He’s also raised concerns China is continuing to add more coal-fired power — the largest single source of emissions — even as it breaks records for the adoption of renewable energy, the report noted.
2. Canada - Carbon Tax?: Canada is one of the few countries that has managed to impose a carbon tax without getting a backlash, Bloomberg reported. The trick: The country packaged the carbon tax as a “price on pollution,” not a tax. And then it gave the money back to the people, the report said.
3. Europe - Renewable Energy Policies: European Union lawmakers allayed market concerns over a possible revenue cap on renewable power producers, an emergency measure blamed for hampering investment in the sector, Bloomberg reported.
D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- IAEE European Conference 2023 (July 24-27, Milan, Italy)
- ASES Solar 2023 Conference (August 8-11, Boulder, Colorado)
- World ESG Summit 2023 (August 21-22, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
- Google Cloud Next 2023 Partner and Customer Conference (August 29-21, San Francisco)
- Sustainability Live 2023 (September 6-7, London, England)
- International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) N2023 (September 6-7, Rome, Italy)
- 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.
