Sustainable IT Services News 17 November 2025: Green Jobs Forecast, HowGood-Anthesis Partnership, Exowatt Funding, More

Here is today's sustainable IT services news, research and analysis for channel partners, MSPs, climate accounting professionals, consultants and the chief sustainability officers (CSOs) they serve.

A. Sustainable IT Partnerships, Strategic Alliances and Strategies

1. Awards: CRN UK honored Acer UK, WWCS and Hammer with Best Sustainability Project awards in the vendor, reseller and distributor category, respectively, for 2025.

2. Research - Sustainability in the Channel: While 49% of partners identify geopolitical contention over ESG as the biggest threat to industry-wide sustainability progress, the channel demonstrates remarkable resilience, an Omdia research report found.

3. Research - Green Employment: The green transition will impact 14.4 million jobs globally by 2030, with a net gain of 9.6 million new roles despite 2.4 million being phased out, according to a new World Economic Forum report.

4. Research - California Data Center Energy Consumption: California data centers consumed 95% more energy in 2023 compared to 2019. Without proper planning and management, the energy consumption could climb 356% by 2028 compared to 2019, according to a research report from Next 10 and the University of California, Riverside. Related: All sustainability research reports listed.

5. Partnership - Supply Chain Management: HowGood and Anthesis are partnering to "support food and retail businesses navigating the urgent transition to low-carbon, nature-positive value chains," the two companies said.

6. Executive Leadership- Accounting: The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has named Ravi Abeywardana as director for sustainability reporting and assurance. Related: List of sustainability executive moves for November 2025. 

7. Executive Leadership - Verizon: The management shakeup at Verizon continues, triggering a new reporting structure for the sustainability team. Indeed, Jim Gowen, senior VP of global supply chain and chief sustainability officer, will report to new Executive VP and Chief Transformation Officer Alfonso Villanueva, effective November 20. Villanueva and new Verizon CEO Dan Schulman previously worked together at PayPal. Schulman is planning to cut roughly 15,000 Verizon jobs, The Wall Street Journal reported.

8. Higher Education: Keep an eye on the Kogod School of Business, which continues to expand its sustainability business education curriculum.

9. Carbon Neutral Data Centers: Ksaok Digital Asset Center's primary global data centers have achieved carbon-neutral operations.

10. Apple CEO Transition?: Apple is sharpening its CEO succession plan amid rumors that Tim Cook could step down as soon as 2026, the Financial Times reported. Related: Apple sustainability strategy and channel partner implications.

11. AI Lawsuit: A federal judge accused a third-party law firm of attempting to “trick” authors out of their record $1.5 billion copyright class action settlement with Anthropic. (Source: Bloomberg Law) Related: List of sustainability lawsuits, judgments and court rulings.

12. Cyberattack Automation: China hackers leveraged Anthropic's AI software to launch an automated cyberattack, The Wall Street Journal reported. Although the attack was modest, it confirms fears that hackers will increasingly harness AI for a new generation of automated attacks.

B. Sustainable IT Investments, Funding, Earnings and Business Launches

1. Accelerator: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) and Nile University have launched ClimaTech Accelerator 2025 — a specialized program designed to support startups and SMEs in the environmental and climate technology sectors. This year’s edition focuses on advancing the circular plastic economy in Egypt. Related: List of sustainability accelerators

2. Funding - Data Center Research Partnership: QTS Data Centers and University of Wisconsin–Madison are partnering to research sustainable digital infrastructure opportunities. The initiative, Advancing Data Center Sustainability, includes a $1.5 million investment from QTS, the organizations said.

3. Funding: Exowatt, a renewable energy startup backed by OpenAI's CEO, has raised an additional $50 million. Exowatt is developing solar energy and related storage systems to power AI data centers.

C. Regional and Global Sustainability Policies, Regulations and News

1. COP30 Protests:  Thousands of climate protesters marched through the Brazilian city of Belem in a noisy, diverse and peaceful display to demand more action to protect the fate of the planet and to vent their anger at governments and fossil fuel industries. (Source: Reuters)

2. COP30 - China's Influence: Amid the U.S. absence from COP30, China is stepping into the limelight as a leader in the fight against global warming. (Source: Reuters)

3. COP31: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia would not co-host COP31 with Turkey amid an ongoing stalemate between the two countries over which one should stage the 2026 conference. (Source: Reuters). Related: COP30 news updates

D. Sustainability Conferences, Summits and Events

1. COP30 (November 10-21, Belem, Brazil)
2. Microsoft Ignite 2025 (November 17-21, San Francisco, California)
3. Global Sustainability Expo KSA 2025 (November 25-26, Saudi Arabia)
4. EMEA Automotive Carbon Neutral Summit 2025 (November 26-27, Stuttgart, Germany)
5. AWS re:Invent 2025 (December 1-5, Las Vegas)
6. Complete Sustainability Conference Calendar

E. Previous Updates & Future News

1. Future Updates: If you have news to share then please email me the details.
2. Previous News: All of our daily news updates are here.