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 245 companies. The latest addition is Alibaba (updated).
2. Sustainability Index: Most global companies plan to increase their sustainability investments despite economic uncertainty, according to the 3Q 2023 Environmental Sustainability Index, released by Honeywell in partnership with The Futurum Group. Among the data points to note: 86% of the 751 global companies surveyed indicated that they plan to increase their sustainability budgets.
3. COP28: The COP28 UAE Presidency and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have "convened the first in a landmark series of high-level dialogues through to COP28 around building a 1.5C degree-aligned energy transition," according to a media statement. The initiative is "being conducted in conjunction with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and will be supported by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)." Related: Here's a COP28 climate conference preview.
4. Wind Power Setbacks: Offshore wind projects are facing an economic crisis that erased billions of US dollars in planned spending this week — just as the world needs clean energy more than ever, Bloomberg reported.
5. Partnership - Solar, Batter and EV Chargers: LGCY Power, a residential solar installers in the United States, is expanding deployments of Enphase Energy Systems as well as Enphase electric vehicle (EV) chargers. LGCY Power also plans to leverage Solargraf, Enphase’s cloud-based design and proposal software platform. LGCY Power serves residential customers across 31 states. The two companies did not describe the scale or pace of LGCY Power's Enphase deployments.
6. Battery Coalition - Nevada: Keep an eye on the Nevada Battery Coalition, which includes Dragonfly Energy, Panasonic Energy, Ioneer, Aqua Metals, Lithium Americas, and Comstock Inc., among others. The coalition, announced in February 2023, supports Nevada’s emerging lithium battery industry through economic development, industry promotion, workforce training and growth, and public awareness.
7. Partnership - IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) and Recycling: BlueStar Services Group, a full service asset management, reclamation, recycling, and IT asset disposition services company, will provide Matterport customers in North America a sustainable way to recycle Matterport hardware and accessories that are beyond repair, from the Pro series cameras to Axis.
B. Sustainability M&A, Investments and Funding
1. Funding: Energy Dome, which is developing a CO2 Battery that offers long-duration energy storage, has closed its second tranche of Series B funding, bringing the overall round to a total of EUR 55 million (USD $60 million). The round was co-led by Eni Next and Neva SGR.
2. M&A - Recycling: LyondellBasell has acquired a 50% stake in Stiphout Industries, which sources and processes post-consumer plastic packaging waste. The company operates a facility located in Montfort, the Netherlands, with an annual processing capacity equivalent to the amount of plastic packaging waste generated by over 500,000 Dutch citizens per year. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
3. M&A - Environmental Services: Private equity firm J.F. Lehman & Company (JFLCO), has acquired Heritage-Crystal Clean, a provider of parts cleaning, hazardous and non-hazardous waste services, used oil re-refining, antifreeze recycling, industrial and field services, and emergency and spill response services. The all-cash transaction values Crystal Clean at approximately $1.2 billion.
4. All M&A Activity: Our M&A database has now tracked 107 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 Carbon Emissions: The US will achieve a 29-42% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2030—a "meaningful departure from previous years’ expectations for the US emissions trajectory but not enough for the US to meet its pledge under the Paris Agreement to reduce emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030," according to Rhodium Group's research.
D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- ASES Solar 2023 Conference (August 8-11, Boulder, Colorado)
- MEMA Sustainability Summit (August 15, Troy, Michigan)
- World ESG Summit 2023 (August 21-22, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
- Google Cloud Next 2023 Partner and Customer Conference (August 29-21, San Francisco)
- 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.
