Here is today’s sustainability news, research and analysis for technology partners; renewable energy and green IT service providers; management consultants; CIOs; chief sustainability officers (CSOs) and c-suite members.
A. Sustainable Technology, Talent, Partnerships and Green IT Alliances
1. Managed Cloud Services: Rackspace has unveiled a sustainability report that describes the cloud MSP's progress on carbon footprint reduction, sustainable technology partnerships and more.
2. Research - Climate Change Consulting Market: The climate change consulting market will reach $7.7 billion by 2033, up from $2.8 billion in 2023, according to MarketResearch.biz. That's a 7.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), the company said. The climate change consulting market includes such professional services as:
- Green building services;
- Corporate strategy;
- Supply chain and ecosystem services;
- Emission trading and offsetting;
- Renewable energy consulting;
- carbon trading and financing; and
- policy and economics.
3. Ecosystem Reporting Guide: Planet, Microsoft and the Gund Institute at the University of Vermont have written a white paper guide to help navigate new sustainability reporting demands around nature-related impacts and dependencies. The white paper is called Accelerating Biodiversity and Ecosystem Reporting.
4. Partnership - Data Centers: Â Danfoss and Google are partnering to "make use of the latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and promote energy efficient solutions in data centers," the two companies said. The new agreement surfaced at AHR Expo in Chicago, Illinois.
5. Electric Vehicles (EVs) - Apple Car: After previously envisioning a truly driverless car, Apple is now working on an EV (electric vehicle) with more limited features, Bloomberg reported. The Apple Car is now expected to arrive in 2028, the report said.
6. Immersive and Virtual Reality Headsets: How sustainable is the Apple Vision Pro headset? Impakter took a look at that very question...
7. Financial Results - Wind Energy: Siemens Energy reported first-quarter preliminary financial that beat market expectations, saying it continued to see a positive market environment as the power equipment maker recovers from a major wind turbine crisis, Reuters reported.
B. Sustainability M&A, Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. Funding - Hydrogen Business: Plug Power's stock surged the most in three years after the hydrogen company said it’s getting close to finalizing a $1.6 billion loan from the US Energy Department, and it’s cutting spending to shore up the balance sheet, Bloomberg reported.
2. Funding - AI and Critical Infrastructure: AiDash -- an enterprise SaaS company focused on critical infrastructure, climate resilience, satellites and AI -- has raised $50 million in Series C funding, bringing the total raised to date to $83 million. Lightrock led the round. SE Ventures, a global venture fund backed by Schneider Electric, also participated in the round. Previous investors G2 Venture Partners, Benhamou Global Ventures, National Grid Partners, Edison International, Shell Ventures, and additional strategic investors also participated in the round.
3. Funding - Autonomous Agriculture: Bluewhite, an agricultural Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) for data-driven autonomous farming, has raiased $39 million in Series C financing. Insight Partners led the round, with participation from new investors Alumni Ventures and LIP Ventures, among others. Existing investors Entrée Capital, Jesselson, and Peregrine Ventures also participated in the financing round.
4. M&A - Distribution and Heating Solutions: Thermal Technology Distribution Solutions, backed by private equity firm Gryphon Investors, has acquired Proheat Inc., a distributor of heaters, sensors, controls, and technical support to manufacturers. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
5. M&A - Sustainable Logistics: Fin has acquired sustainable logistics firm Urb-It -- a last-mile delivery company that served Spain, France and the United Kingdom since 2017. Urb-it filed for bankruptcy in December 2023. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Fin is backer by MaC Venture Capital.
6. M&A - Environmental Data Management: EVORA Global has acquired Metry, a platform for environmental data collection. EVORA gains data solutions for the global real estate and infrastructure investment industry.
7. Complete M&A List: Here's our database of all M&A deals involving sustainability, green IT and renewable energy buyers, sellers and investors.
C. Regional and Global Sustainability Policies and News
1. United States - Onshore Wind Projects: After hitting its lowest point in almost a decade in 2023, the U.S. onshore wind power sector is slowly spinning back to life, Bloomberg reported. Prospects are improving thanks to new tax credits and stronger demand — and as developers work to overcome a cloud of challenges including inflation, higher borrowing costs and supply-chain kinks, Bloomberg said.
2. Italy - High-Performance Computing: Italian energy company Eni will leverage HPE technology for HPC6 -- a supercomputing infrastructure and green data center effort. Eni specializes in the exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons and various energy and petroleum products.
3. Ireland's National Sustainability Accelerator: Also known as the 2050 accelerator, the program gives "top Irish and international startups the opportunity to work with companies leading Ireland’s transition to Net Zero."
4. European Union: The European Union's use of fossil fuels for energy would drop 80% by 2040, compared with 1990 levels, if the bloc moves ahead with a target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by that date, Reuters reported.
D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- Recycling, Circular Design & Sustainable Sourcing for EV Batteries and Carbon Neutral Vehicles USA Conference 2024 (January 23-25, Detroit, Michigan)
- Sustainable Foods Summit 2024 (January 24-25, San Francisco, California)
- Green Investment and Sustainability Summit 2024 (January 30-31, Chennai, India)
- ARC Industry Leadership Forum 2024Â (February 4-8, Orlando, Florida)
- Music Sustainability Summit 2024 (February 5, Los Angeles, California)
- Complete Calendar of Sustainability Conferences
E. Previous Updates & Future News
- Did You Miss Yesterday's Daily Update?: Here is our previous sustainability, green IT and renewable energy news for technology partners.
- Future Updates: If you have news to share then please email me the details.
