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. Executive Leadership - Smart Buildings: Johnson Controls has named Vijay Sankaran as chief digital and information officer. He previously was CTO and head of digital solutions.
2. Executive Leadership - Energy Efficiency: Mantis Innovation has hired Shell Energy and Johnson Controls veteran Chris Kaiser as VP of sales, projects, west. Mantis Innovation provides managed facility services, energy efficiency and sustainability, and energy procurement capabilities.
3. Partnership - Digital Advertising: Nativo and Scope3 are partnering to help customers "achieve their sustainability goals by better understanding and reducing the carbon footprint of their digital advertising campaigns," the two companies said.Â
4. Microsoft - Data Center Challenge: Microsoft has paused construction on portions of its multibillion-dollar data center campus in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, to "incorporate new data center designs," according to Wisconsin Public Radio. The report did not mention whether energy supplies or grid considerations were involved with the delay.
5. Data Centers - Green Energy Challenges: Data center companies will need to look beyond green energy to power AI applications and associated infrastructure, Siemens Smart Infrastructure Chief Executive Matthias Rebellius told The Wall Street Journal.
6 . Partnership - Cloud Services: Soluna Holdings and Atlas Cloud are partnering to run AI video processing workloads in a sustainable cloud-based design, the two companies said. Soluna builds and operates environmentally responsible data centers. Atlas Cloud is solutions provider focused on advisory and optimization services.
7. Startup Program - Infrastructure Software: Keep an eye on Siemens for Startups, a new program designed to "empower startups with our software, collaborate to turn their ideas into reality, and connect their solutions to our global marketplace to help them scale," the infrastructure software provider said.
8. CES 2025 - Vehicle to Home (V2H): Eaton at CES 2025 is demonstrating vehicle-to-home (V2H) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies, which could help consumers to maintain home power during grid outages.
9. Layoffs - Solar Energy: Another round of SolarEdge layoffs, announced January 6, will impact 400 employees. SolarEdge had multiple rounds of layoffs in 2024. The latest job cuts are part of a larger plan to "regain financial stability, better enabling us to achieve our organizational objectives this year and driving our return to profitable growth," CEO Shuki Nir wrote to SolarEdge employees in a memo.
10. AI Personal Computer: Nvidia has unveiled a desktop PC that has "AI supercomputer" capabilities. Known as Project Digits, the PC features the NVIDIA GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip in a "power efficient, compact form factor," the company said. The first Project Digits PCs will ship in May 2025 for about $3,000, TechCrunch reported.
11. Tesla Probe: Tesla is facing a probe by the U.S. traffic safety regulator over issues related to the EV maker's "Actually Smart Summon" feature, SeekingAlpha reported.
B. Sustainability M&A, Climate Tech Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. M&A - Infrastructure: PGGM has fully acquired Invesis, a global investor and developer of sustainable infrastructure. Invesis, formed in 2005, owns a diverse portfolio of 50 projects across transportation, social infrastructure, energy transition, and digital sectors, the companies said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
2. M&A - Nuclear Technology: Nano Nuclear Energy is spending $8 million to acquire the major assets of the bankrupt Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp., a midsize startup that develops microreactors, Politico reported.
3. M&A - Nuclear Services: BWX Technologies is acquiring nuclear industry service provider Kinectrics for $525 million. Kinectrics provides lifecycle management services for the global nuclear power and transmission and distribution markets.
4. M&A - Environmental Services: Apollo is acquiring GFL's environmental services business for an enterprise value of $8 billion. GFL will retain a $1.7 billion equity interest in the Environmental Services business.
C. Regional and Global Sustainability Policies and News
1. United States - California Carbon Capture Project: California received permission to move forward with a project that would inject carbon dioxide into the state’s deep rock formation using a technology that has long tantalized the fossil fuel industry but has yet to break through, Bloomberg reported.
2. United States - Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Lawsuits: In a lawsuit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, along with developer Last Energy, said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s rules governing small modular reactors, or SMRs, are holding back their broader deployment, Politico reported. SMRs may help to power AI data centers, proponents assert.
D. Sustainable IT and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- Sustainable and Impact Investments International Conference 2025Â (January 14-15, Dublin, Ireland)
- World Future Energy Summit 2025 (January 14-16, Abu Dhabi)
- Davos 2025Â --Â World Economic Forum 2025Â annual meeting (January 20-24, Switzerland)
- Sustainable Foods Summit 2025Â (January 22-23, San Francisco, California)
- Cleantech Forum North America 2025Â (January 27-29 in San Diego, California)
- Complete Calendar of Sustainability Conferences
E. Previous Updates & Future News
