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. Interim Chief Sustainability Officer - Financial Services: HSBC has named Julian Wentzel, currently Head of Global Banking, MENAT, as interim group chief sustainability officer. Wentzel will step in for Group CSO Celine Herweijer, who plans to exit HSBC on December 31, 2024. Herweijer resigned after the firm removed the group CSO role from HSBC's executive committee.
2. Boardroom - Recycling Solutions: FreightWise CEO Chris Cochran is now an S3 Recycling Solutions board member.
3. Compliance Services: SGS has unveiled three services to support Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) compliance and advance Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting and disclosures. SGS, based in Geneva, offers testing, inspection and certification services worldwide.
4. Layoffs - Data Center Services: Eqiuinix layoffs will impact roughly 400 employees -- which represents about 3% of its global workforce, Light Reading reported.
B. Sustainability M&A, Climate Tech Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. Data Centers - Green Financing: Equinix has issued an additional €1.15 billion in green bonds (US$1.21 billion) to "further its sustainability initiatives and enhance the operational efficiency of its global business," the data center company said. Equinix has issue  $6.9 billion in green bonds to date.
2. M&A - Wind Energy: Clearway Energy will acquired the Tuolumne wind project, a 137 MW operation in Washington state, from Turlock Irrigation District, SeekingAlpha reported.
3. M&A - Potential IT Services Deal: French IT firm Atos, which is struggling financially, may sell its advanced computing activities to the French government for an enterprise value of 500 million euros ($524 million), Reuters reported. The overall Atos service catalog includes sustainable IT services capabilities.
4. M&A - Potential Wind Energy Sale: Private equity firm TPG is in advanced talks to buy the Indian wind energy assets of Siemens Energy AG’s Gamesa unit, Bloomberg reported. The deal may be worth about $300 million, the report said. Siemens, which laid off about 5,000 employees in November 2024, also plans to spin off its EV charging business.
5. 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 Highlights and Lowlights: Here are the five biggest wins and losses at COP29, which set the stage for COP30 in 2025, according to Bloomberg.
2. United States - AI Policy Leader: President-elect Donald Trump is considering naming an AI czar in the White House to coordinate federal policy and governmental use of artificial intelligence, Axios reported and SeekingAlpha mentioned.
3. United States - Potential California EV Rebates: If President Trump repeals a federal tax credit for electric vehicle (EV) purchases, California’s governor plans to step in with a state-level EV tax credit plan. The big twist? Governor Gavin Newsom's plan would not include Tesla vehicle purchases, SeekingAlpha noted.
4. United States - New York Energy Transition Challenges: New York’s law requiring that most of its energy come from renewable or non-fossil fuel sources in just five years is full of hot air and unattainable, said former three-term Republican Gov. George Pataki, who championed small nuclear plants as a viable alternative, the New York Post reported.
D. Sustainable IT and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- London Climate Tech Show 2024Â (November 27-28, London, United Kingdom)
- European Sustainable Packaging Summit 2024Â (November 28-29, Germany)
- AWS re:Invent 2024Â (December 2-6, Las Vegas, Nevada)
- Apidays Paris 2024 (December 3-5, Paris, France)
- Demonstrate Deploy Decarbonize 2024 (December 4-5, Washington, D.C.)
- 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.
