Here is today’s sustainable IT services and climate tech news, research and analysis -- written for technology partners, green IT service providers, CIOs, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) and climate accounting professionals.
A. Sustainable IT, Talent, Partnerships and Green Tech Alliances
1. CFO and CSO Alignment: A strategically engaged CFO is the most effective weapon against the growing anti-ESG movement, Reconteur.net asserted.
2. SMB Marketplace: Schneider Electric is recruiting partners to join the Zeigo Activate Marketplace. The bigger goal: Drive energy efficiency and sustainability for small and midsize enterprises, The Energyst reported.
3. Microgrid Deployment: Domaine Carneros, a California-based winery, has deployed a Schneider Electric microgrid to manage on-site energy generation. Although deployment costs were not disclosed, the microgrid has cut Domaine Carneros' annual energy costs by more than $70,000 while also reducing the winery's carbon emissions, the organizations said.
4. Partnership - AWS Data Centers: GE Vernova and AWS have signed a strategic framework agreement (SFA). The result: GE Vernova will provide AWS with "new offerings across a broad scope of solutions to electrify and decarbonize data centers across North America, Europe, and Asia."
5. Google Cloud Partner: Othersphere has achieved the Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability designation in the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program. Othersphere Explorer, which runs on Google Cloud, is an enterprise software tool that "accelerates deployment of sustainable industrial infrastructure," the company said.
6. Google AI and Weather Forecasting: Google DeepMind and Google Research have released WeatherNext -- a family of AI models that could help energy companies, retailers, financial services firms, manufacturers and others better prepare for extreme weather events.
7. IT Infrastructure: Canon is working with Nidec Corp. of Japan to calculate the CO2 emissions for office MFDs (multi-function devices) -- which support copying, printing, scanning and faxing in a single device.
8. Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger Networks: EVgo announced weaker-than-expected revenues and net income for Q4 of 2024, SeekingAlpha reported. Still, EVgo expects to achieve adjusted EBITDA breakeven results in 2025, CEO Badar Kahn said. As of March 4, EVgo's stock is down nearly 40% in 2025.
B. Sustainability M&A, Climate Tech Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. Startup Guidance: Keep an eye on Startup Science, which appears to help Accelerators, Incubators and startups. Indeed, the platform offers founders with "step-by-step guidance, education, tools and resources that can dramatically increase their chances of success," the platform provider asserts.
2. Funding - Data Centers: EcoDataCenter, backed by parent Areim, has raised US$478 million to accelerate the "green transition in the data centre industry through EcoDataCenter," the company said. EcoDataCenter, based in Sweden, "provides solutions focused on efficiency, scalable growth, world-class service, and sustainability," the company said.
3. Data Center Financing: CIM Group and Novva Data Centers are borrowing $2 billion from JPMorgan Chase and Starwood Property Trust to build a 100-acre data center campus near Salt Lake City, Utah, The Wall Street Journal reported.
4. M&A - Energy Software: Private equity firm Francisco Partners has acquired energy software provider Quorum Software from Thoma Bravo. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Quorum Software, founded in 1998, serves over 1,500 customers across 50 energy producing countries. Quorum achieved AWS Energy Competency Partner status in February 2025. Thoma Bravo acquired Quorum from Silver Lake in 2018.
5. M&A - Support Services: Mirai Works has acquired Greenroom Co., a developer of sustainability management support services. Both businesses are based in Tokyo.
C. Regional and Global Sustainability Policies and News
1. United States - Methane Emissions: Cutting down emissions of planet-warming methane from oil and gas production was supposed to be relatively simple, but it hasn’t worked that way, according to The New York Times. Indeed, recent moves by the Trump Administration and Congress could reduce incentives for energy companies to plug leaks and cut their methane emissions. The Upside: Still, efforts to plug leaks could pay for themselves, The New York Times notes. What's a potential first step? Check out the Well Done Foundation, which plugs abandoned oil and gas wells, and leverages an IoT platform to monitor the plugged wells. SMB Nation Founder Harry Brelsford is involved in the effort.
2. United States vs. European Union Regulations: Republican lawmakers call the European Union's ESG rules “hostile” and warn that America’s jurisdictional sovereignty is at stake, while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said he’s willing to consider “trade tools” to retaliate, Bloomberg reported. The dustup involves U.S. companies that would need to comply with the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the report said.
3. Germany - Energy Transition Skills Gap: The share of jobs in Germany related to the energy transition has more than doubled since 2019, but a shortage of skilled workers threatens a sector that has so far resisted the country's recession, Reuters reported. The report was based on research from the German Economic Institute (IW) for the Bertelsmann Foundation found.
4. India - Renewable Energy Challenges: A growing number of planned renewable projects in India are failing to secure prospective power buyers, threatening India's green energy goals, Bloomberg reported, based on the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
5. Norway - Net Zero Policies: Norway will allow cities to introduce zero-emissions zones, as the number of electric cars on the road in the biggest urban centers passes 40%, Bloomberg reported.
D. Sustainable IT and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- SXSW 2025 -- The South By Southwest Conference (March 7-13, Austin, Texas)
- North American Sustainability and Responsibility Summit (March 12-14, Denver, Colorado)
- InventU Sustainable Future Summit 2025 (March 12-13, Cologne, Germany)
- Chatham House Climate and Energy Summit 2025 (March 18-19, London, England)
- Climate Investor Forum 2025 (March 19, Melbourne, Australia)
- Complete Calendar of Sustainability Conferences
E. Previous Updates & Future News
- Future Updates: If you have news to share then please email me the details.
- Did You Miss Yesterday's Daily Update?: Here is our previous sustainable IT, climate tech and renewable energy news for technology partners.
