Here is today’s sustainability, Net Zero and circular economy news, research and analysis. This daily update is designed for technology partners, management consultants, CIOs, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) and c-suite members.
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Our updates for Tuesday, April 18, 2023 include…
A. Sustainability and Net-Zero Partnerships, Research & News
1. Partnership - Siemens and IBM: Siemens Digital Industries Software and IBM are expanding their partnership to "develop a combined software solution integrating their respective offerings for systems engineering, service lifecycle management and asset management," the companies said.
2. Partnership - Supply Chain Management: Link Logistics and Carrier Global Corporation are partnering to "deliver energy management and analytics across Link’s enterprise portfolio." The relationship involves EcoEnergy Insights, a part of Carrier that provides Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled solutions and services. The software will help Link Logistics to "scale revenue-grade utility metering and monitoring hardware across its nearly 550 million square-foot portfolio," the companies said.
3. Partnership - Software and Renewable Energy: SAP has been using 100% renewable electricity to power all its data centers and offices since 2014. In the journey to 100% renewable electricity, SAP chose the internationally recognized EKOenergy label. For each megawatt hour of EKOenergy-labeled electricity, SAP contributes 0.10€ to EKOenergy’s Climate Fund, which focuses on alleviating energy poverty and contributing to climate protection and renewable energy, the companies said.
4. Partnership - Electric Vehicle (EV) Energy Grid: EnergyHub and Fermata Energy are partnering to "enable utilities to accelerate EVs as grid-edge resources," the companies said.
5. Talent: Johnson Controls, which develops autonomous and sustainable building solutions, has named Sachin Gupta as CTO and tech advisor, digital solutions for the Asia Pacific region.
6. IT Distribution & Cloud Services: Copaco, a distributor of cloud services to partners across Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, has embraced the VMware Zero Carbon Committed Initiative. Pascal Saul, senior cloud architect at Copaco, explains the strategy to CIO.com.
7. Consulting: Oaktree Solutions, which offers consulting services focused on sustainability, has launched a website and new brand identity. Founder Frank Carone previously was chief of staff to the 110th mayor of the city of New York, Eric L. Adams.
8. IT Services - Net Zero Goal: Parsons, an IT consulting firm, has committed to achieving net-zero before 2050.
9. Software - ESB Dashboard: ESG Book has launched the Corporate ESG Dashboard -- which covers more than 140,000 disclosures. The SaaS-based tool "combines in-depth ESG and climate data, peer benchmarking analytics, and reporting features that directly impact corporate sustainability performance on ESG Book's platform," the company said.
10. Research - ESG Challenges: Inadequate data (41%) is the biggest obstacle to ESG progress, according to an IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) study. The other big challenges involved regulatory barriers (39%), inconsistent standards (37%) and inadequate skills (36%).
11. Net Zero Buildings: Here are 10 steps that organizations can take to overhaul existing buildings to achieve net zero carbon emissions, according to Olivier Blum, executive VP of Schneider Electric's energy management business.
12. Climate Risk Consultants: Governments and Wall Street are eager for more granular, up-to-date information on the risks they face. But the shortcomings of this emerging field of “climate services” are concerning to some observers, Bloomberg reported.
B. Sustainability Funding, Financing, Mergers & Acquisitions
1. M&A: Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has acquired PurposeEnergy, a renewable fuels and biogas specialist that offers waste solutions to the food and beverage industries.
2. M&A: Private equity firm SER Capital Partners is acquiring Charah Solutions, a provider of environmental services and byproduct recycling to the power generation industry.
3. M&A: KJB Global Consulting has acquired one of the UK’s largest independent metals recycling operators, Peterborough Metals Recycling (PMR) -- also known as BW Riddle, East Midlands Business Link reported.
4. Financing - Data Centers: Pan-African data center firm Raxio has secured up to $170 million in sustainability-linked debt, with the interest repayments tied to pre-agreed water and energy targets, Data Center Dynamics reported.
5. Funding - Carbon Removal Startup: Noya has raised an $11 million in Series A funding led by Union Square Ventures and Collaborative Fund.
C. Sustainability and Net-Zero Government Policies & Regional News
1. US Government: The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the St. Elizabeths West Campus in Washington aimed at promoting decarbonization, clean and resilient technology, and high performance sustainable buildings, the organizations said.
2. European Union - Lawsuit: Greenpeace said it’s suing the European Union’s executive over its decision to grant some gas and nuclear power stations a “fake” green label under EU sustainable finance rules, Bloomberg reported.
D. Send Us Your News Tips
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