Here is today’s sustainability news, research and analysis for technology partners; renewable energy and green IT service providers; Today's sustainability news also involvesmanagement consultants; CIOs; chief sustainability officers (CSOs), c-suite members and climate accounting professionals.
A. Sustainable Technology, Talent, Partnerships and Green IT Alliances
1. Digital Twin Technology: NVIDIA has unveiled Earth-2 -- a digital twin cloud platform for "simulating and visualizing weather and climate at unprecedented scale," the chipmaker said.
2. Research - AI for Sustainability: Fully 76% of business leaders in India plan to increase their investment in generative AI for sustainability, according to an IBM survey -- though we don't know how soon that spending will occur, or how much spending the figure involves.
3. Built Environment - AI Assistant: BrainBox AI has launched ARIA (Artificial Responsive Intelligent Assistant), a generative AI assistant powered by Amazon Bedrock. ARIA is "designed to enhance building efficiency by assimilating seamlessly into the day-to-day processes related to building management," the company said. The launch comes roughly two months after BrainBox AI joined the AWS Partner Network.
4. Built Environment - Amazon's Second Headquarters: Amazon HQ2Â has been awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum Certification. The certification recognizes buildings for design, construction, and operation practices that improve environmental and human health. Amazon HQ2 is the e-commerce and cloud computing company's major location in Arlington, Virginia.
5. Partnership - Water Risk Management: Waterplan -- a sustainability SaaS platform enabling enterprises to measure, respond to, and report water risks -- has partnered with Kurita Water Industries, a provider of water treatment solutions. This collaboration "aims to empower Kurita's Japanese customers with the technology, water data, and insights to navigate the complex landscape of water risks, ensuring business continuity and regulatory compliance," the two companies said.
6. Retail Sales - Solar and Energy Storage: The Home Depot's U.S. stores have agreed to resell Sunnova Adaptive Home energy solutions.
7. IT Phones: The new Cisco Desk Phone 9800 Series represents the networking company's "most sustainable enterprise desk phones, comprised of more than 74% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics," Cisco said. The phones are equipped with new low power modes to "ensure optimal energy efficiency, as well as energy usage and carbon emission insights available in Control Hub," Cisco said. Two phones series have received EnergyStar certification, with complete certification of the series expected sometime in 2024, the networking company added.
8. Executive Leadership - EV (Electric Vehicle) Charging: Blink Charging has promoted VP of Marketing Jenifer Yokley to chief marketing officer (CMO). She previously held key posts at Trilliant Networks, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and Schneider Electric.
9. Executive Leadership - Energy: Origis Energy has promoted Vikas Anand to succeed founder Guy Vanderhaegen as CEO. Vanderhaegen shift to executive chairman. Origis Energy, backed by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure Partners, develops renewable energy and decarbonization solutions.
10. Layoffs - Wireless Infrastructure: Ericsson layoffs will impact about 1,200 employees in Sweden, Reuters reported. The Ericsson job cuts arrive amid reduced customer spending on 5G infrastructure. In some ways, Ericsson and telecom equipment rivals have positioned modern 5G networks as a way to drive more sustainable communications.
B. Sustainability M&A, Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. Funding - Sustainable Sourcing: Circular.co has raised $10.5 million to expand its massive database of post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials. The financing includes a new $5.3 round, backed by Maniv, Oxygea, and Eclipse, which followed a $5.2 million seed round previously led by Eclipse.
2. M&A - Wind Assets: Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure has acquired two wind assets in Scotland, United Kingdom. The purchase price was $66 million.
3. Complete M&A List: Here's our database of all M&A deals involving green IT and renewable energy buyers, sellers and investors.
C. Regional and Global Sustainability Policies and News
Nothing today. But check this area each day for updates.
D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- Maine Sustainability and Water Conference 2024 (March 28, Augusta, Maine)
- EnerCom Dallas 2024: The Energy Investment and ESG Conference (April 2-3, Dallas, Texas)
- Sustainability Conference on Ecopreneurship 2024Â (April 8-9, Stanford University)
- Tantalus Users Conference 2024 (April 8-11, Fort Worth, Texas)
- Google Cloud Next 2024 Conference Dates (April 9-11, Las Vegas, Nevada)
- 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.
