Here is today’s sustainability news, research and analysis for technology partners, renewable energy and green IT services companies, management consultants, CIOs, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) and c-suite members.
A. Sustainable Technology, Talent, Partnerships and Green IT Alliances
1. Annual ESG Reports: Brenmiller's annual ESG report is here. Also, CropX Technologies' inaugural sustainability report is here. Related: Search our database of annual sustainability reports.
2. Climate Rating System: Greenly, a carbon accounting platform that helps 1,500+ companies worldwide measure and then reduce their carbon footprint, has announced a new Climate Rating System to help customers "measure the reality of their decarbonization trajectory.
3. Data Storage Services: NetApp announced block storage and Keystone storage-as-a-service to "drive simplicity, savings, security and sustainability for customers," the company said. The company mentioned sustainability 11 times in the storage announcement, but did not share any specific carbon footprint or energy efficiency data.
4. Solar Panel Recycling: Up to 90% of solar panels end up in landfills, Bloomberg estimates. A startup called We Recycle Solar has built a profitable business that smashes the solar panels, extracts bits of copper and silver and aluminum, and pulverizes most of the rest into a gritty powder, the report said.
5. Consultancy - CEO Transition: SLR's CEO crown will shift from co-founder Neil Penhall to Bradley Andrews, the sustainability consultancy said.
6. ESG Is Dead (Professor Asserts): Aswath Damodaran, a professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at NYU, asserts that ESG is beyond redemption, according to this editorial in the Financial Times. On a somewhat similar note, ESG has lost its meaning, a CNN Business report asserts.
7. COP28 - Fossil Fuel Transition Deadline?: More than 130 companies -- including Nestle, Unilever, Mahindra Group and Volvo Cars -- are urging political leaders to agree a timeline at the upcoming U.N. climate summit to phase out fossil fuels, Reuters reported.
8. Carbon Capture - Epic Failure: Occidental Petroleum is leading the global charge to vastly expand the use of technologies that suck up carbon dioxide, Bloomberg reports. The failure of company’s biggest-ever carbon capture project shows the challenges ahead, the report said.
9. Research - Grocery Stores and AI: Roughly 78% of grocers believe that sustainable practices will help them differentiate from the competition, and 83% of grocers rate technology as vital to sustainability, while 87% believe AI can help meet sustainability goals, according to the Sustainability in Grocery: Progress Through Technology report. Still, only 41% of grocers say that they are currently leveraging technology effectively to improve sustainability, citing budget limitations, limited expertise, and lack of strategic direction as the top three factors holding them back, the report found.
B. Sustainability M&A, Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. Spin-Off - GE Vernova: The GE Vernova renewable energy & power business expects to spin-off as a publicly held company in Q2 2024.
2. Bonds and Climate Risk: A growing number of asset managers is reassessing bond values tied to real assets, as a spike in the frequency of flash floods, fires and storms hits conventional pricing models, Bloomberg reported. In other words: Climate risks are triggering mispricing of sovereign bonds, the report said.
3. M&A - Energy Exchange: Cloud software provider SEW has acquired GridExchange from Alectra Utilities Corp. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. GridExchange's web and mobile application allow utilities to engage customers with Distributed Energy Resources such as solar panels, battery storage and electric vehicles (EVs). Customers, in turn, can contribute excess energy or adjust consumption patterns in" exchange for financial incentives and loyalty rewards redeemable at local businesses," GridExchange said. Alectra launched GridExchange in August 2021. Use adoption figures were not disclosed.
4. M&A List: See our M&A list tracking all sustainability, green IT and renewable energy buyers, sellers and investors.
C. Regional and Global Sustainability Policies and News
1. Puerto Rico - Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging: Blink Charging has installed EV chargers at five McDonald’s restaurant locations throughout Puerto Rico.
2. United Kingdom - Power Grid Bottlenecks: An excess of planned renewable energy projects seeking to link to the UK’s electric grid threatens to discourage investment in the sector, putting the United Kingdom's climate targets at risk, according to a report commissioned by Centrica Plc, the parent of British Gas, Bloomberg reported.
3. Europe - Green Steel: Steel is one the world’s most polluting industries, but Europe is leaping forward in making the metal green, The Wall Street Journal reported. By 2030, Europe is expected to be home to nearly 50 green and low-carbon steel projects, according to the Leadership Group for Industry Transition’s compilation of projects. In comparison, the U.S. only has two such projects, The Journal said.
4. Romania: The country needs to spend $356 billion by 2050 to meet the European Union’s carbon-neutral targets, a sum that Romania citizens are far from eager to pay, the World Bank said in its first climate and development report for an EU nation, Bloomberg reported.
5. Australia and Microsoft: The software company will invest A$5 billion in expanding its hyperscale cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Australia over the next two years, Microsoft said. On the data center sustainability front, "Microsoft will ensure that its new data centres in Australia help meet the company’s sustainability goals of being carbon negative, water positive and zero waste by 2030. This includes using low-carbon materials during construction, as well as using renewable energy, advanced water-cooling features and measures to decrease diesel fuel use during operation," the company said.
D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- Valencia Digital Summit 2023 (October 26-27, Valencia)
- Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit 2023 (October 29-31, London)
- Forbes Middle East Sustainability Leaders Summit 2023Â (November 1-3, Abu Dhabi, UAE)
- World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit (November 1-3, Kigali, Rwanda)
- ACESD 2023: Asia Conference on Environmental and Sustainable Development (November 3-5, Sapporo, Japan)
- 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.
