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. IT Devices and Infrastructure: Lenovo has launched the 360 Circle GHG Emissions & Strategy Community Benchmarking program, which "empowers partners to evaluate, enhance, and accelerate their climate action," the company said. The effort involves close work with ClimateChoice.
2. Net Zero Community: Westbank and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) want to develop a net-ero community in San Jose, California. The community would span three data centers and 4,000 residential apartments.=
3. Regulations - CSRD Compliance Challenges: Roughly 60% of enterprise organizations are 'almost ready' for CSRD compliance and have the right tools and solutions in place, but only 37% of mid-market businesses said the same, and risk being 'left behind' as a result, EcoOnline research found.
4. Partnership - AI Solutions: IBM and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) announce new, publicly available AI-powered solutions to "inform more sustainable urban development for cities and communities around the world, enabling decision-makers and policymakers to map urbanization and identify energy and infrastructure needs for communities in developing regions," the organizations said.
5. Partnership - Distribution: TD SYNNEX and Carbonhalo have partnered in Australia to "help businesses tackle upcoming climate regulations through a new sustainability initiative," CRN reported. The Climate Action Partner Program aims to "simplify carbon reporting for companies through a software-as-a-service platform that combines emissions tracking tools with expert guidance," the report said.
6. Partnership - Supply Chain Management: Amazon.com and IKEA, in alliance with about three dozen other companies that depend on ocean freight, will invite shipping firms for the first time to bid on a contract in January 2025 to move their cargo on vessels powered by near-zero emissions e-fuels like e-methanol, Reuters reported.
7. Environment Data: CDP and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) are "deepening their collaboration to improve and streamline environmental reporting," the two organizations said.
8. Quantum Computing: IBM announced quantum hardware and software advancements to "execute complex algorithms on IBM quantum computers IBM quantum computers with record levels of scale, speed, and accuracy," the company said. IBM says the computers can help customers "tackle scientific problems across materials, chemistry, life sciences, high-energy physics, and more," the firm added.
9. Siemens Layoffs: Siemens layoffs may impact roughly 5,000 employees amid an automation business slowdown, CEO Roland Busch said, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, Siemens also plans to spin off its EV charging business, which includes various managed services and cloud services for EV charging networks.
10. Lawsuit vs OpenAI: GEMA, a German licensing body, has filed suit against OpenAI, alleging that OpenAI "systematically uses GEMA’s repertoire to train its systems," Music Business World reported.
B. Sustainability M&A, Climate Tech Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. Accelerator: The International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) and AWS have selected eight startups for a Compute for Climate Fellowship. The startups focus on clean energy, low-carbon transportation, sustainable agriculture and food, circular economy, sustainable buildings, greenhouse gas accounting, carbon removal, and environment risk.
2. For Sale: Shell is seeking to sell its portfolio of carbon offset businesses, Bloomberg reported, though the company expect to maintain minority stakes in the efforts.
3. Funding - Data Center Liquid Cooling Technology: Accelsius has raised $24 million is Series A funding.
4. Funding - Energy Storage Systems: Sympower has raised 21.3 million euros from existing and new investors. The startup specializes in battery energy storage systems (BESS) and managed grid sustainability.
5. M&A - Consultancy: Civic Engineers of the United Kingdom has acquired Watt Energy & Consulting Engineers, a provider of sustainable energy design services. Watt Energy has 12 employees. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. This is Civic's third acquisition in recent months.
6. 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
1. COP29 - Funding Needs: Developing countries need at least $1 trillion per year by the end of the decade to cope with climate change, economists told U.N. talks in Baku, where early efforts to reach a finance deal risk being overshadowed by diplomatic rows, Reuters reported.
2. United States - Hydropower Lawsuit: A lawsuit against NextEra Energy alleges that the company used “scorched-earth scheme” to block competition, causing more than $350 million in business damages and inflating how much consumers pay for electricity, Reuters reported.
3. China - Solar Energy: China is building a massive offshore solar power project, Bloomberg reported.
4. United Kingdom - Nuclear Energy: Great British Nuclear, the UK government's nuclear energy agency, will seek bids from four companies to supply small modular reactors (SMRs) to boost the country's power generation, The Register reported.
5. India - Energy Investigation: India's top renewable energy agency has sent a notice to Reliance Power, asking why it should not initiate criminal proceedings after a subsidiary of the power producer submitted fake documents for a bid, Reuters reported.
6. Ivory Coast Climate Fund: The Ivory Coast will create a $500 million green finance fund to support sustainable growth initiatives, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said, according to Reuters.
7. Nuclear Energy: Thirty-one countries plan to triple their nuclear energy capacity by 2050, according to the World Nuclear Association.
D. Sustainable IT and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- COP29 (November 11-24, Baku, Azerbaijan)
- Resource Recycling Conference 2024 (November 13-15, Louisville, Kentucky)
- Green Building Congress 2024 (November 14-16, Bangalore, India)
- Microsoft Ignite 2024 (November 18-22, Chicago)
- Europe Supply Chain Decarbonization and Sustainability Summit (November 26-27, Frankfurt, Germany)
- Complete Calendar of Sustainability Conferences
E. Previous Updates & Future News
- Did You Miss Yesterday's Daily Update?: Here is our previous sustainable IT, climate tech and renewable energy news for technology partners.
- Future Updates: If you have news to share then please email me the details.
