Here is today’s sustainable IT services news, research and analysis -- written for technology partners, green IT service providers, CIOs, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) and climate accounting professionals.
A. Sustainable Technology, Talent, Partnerships and Green IT Alliances
1. Chief Sustainability Officer - Help Wanted: Angela Avery will retire as group executive VP and chief people, corporate & sustainability officer at WestJet. Avery will remain in her role until a replacement is named, then she will stay on as an advisor until early 2025, the company said.
2. Data Centers and Renewable Energy Concerns: Tech giants Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta say they buy enough wind, solar or geothermal power every time a big data center comes online to cancel out its emissions, The Washington Post reports. But critics see a shell game with these contracts: The companies are operating off the same power grid as everyone else, while claiming for themselves much of the finite amount of green energy, the Post asserted. Utilities are then backfilling those purchases with fossil fuel expansions, regulatory filings show, the report claimed.
3. Amazon - AI Robotics Strategy: Amazon is hiring Pieter Abbeel, Peter Chen, and Rocky Duan and licensing Covariant’s robotic foundation models to "advance the state-of-the-art in intelligent and safe robots," Amazon said. The combination talent hire and licensing deal is an increasingly popular strategy that allows big tech companies to avoid M&A scrutiny from the U.S. government.
4. Tesla Robotaxi Strategy: Tesla will unveil its Robotaxi design during an October 10 event at a Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, California, SeekingAlpha reported.
5. Higher Education - Asset Management: The University of New Mexico administration has adopted a new Asset Management Program (AMP). The program seeks to "expand collaboration, transparency, and holistic management of The University lands and facility assets."
6. Volkswagen Court Case:Â Former Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn on September 3, 2024, appeared in court on fraud charges over the so-called dieselgate scandal, nine years after the German carmaker was found to have rigged emissions tests, Reuters reported.
7. Solar Energy - Infrastructure Recycling: Canadian Solar and SOLARCYCLE are partnering to offer recycling services to Canadian Solar's U.S. customers.
8. Wind Power - Landfills: Engineers expect wind turbine blades to generate more than 43 million tons of landfill waste by 2050, which is about three times as much total waste as New York City produces annually, The New York Times reports. Some European countries — including Germany, Austria, Finland and Netherlands — have banned turbine blades from landfills, the report said. One potential solution: Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have developed what they say is a turbine blade made from plant material that can be recycled, the Times reported.
9. Wind Power Blame Game: GE Vernova said recent turbine blade failures at two offshore wind farms in the United States and the United Kingdom are unrelated and blamed the latest mishap on strong winds, Reuters reported.
B. Sustainability M&A, Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. Seed Fund: Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, has provided a US$5 million grant to the APAC Sustainability Seed Fund 2.0.
2. Jeff Bezos Investments - Climate Standards Concerns: Ties between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' $10B charitable group and organizations that set corporate climate standards are raising concerns of potential influence in setting these norms, the Financial Times reported and SeekingAlpha recapped.
3. M&A Rumor - Data Centers: A consortium led by Blackstone is nearing a deal to acquire Australian data centre group AirTrunk for A$20 billion US$13.53 billion) including debt, Reuters reported. AirTrunk's sustainability strategy is here.
4. M&A - Aerospace: GE Aerospace is acquiring Satavia, a U.K. startup whose technology worked to reduce the warming effect of jet exhaust emissions, Sky News reported and SeekingAlpha noted.
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 Preparations: The COP29 Presidency will officially launch a flagship initiative, the Baku Global Climate Transparency Platform (BTP) during the High-Level Dialogue (HLD) on September 3, 2024, according to the host party. HLD aims to sustain momentum for increased transparency action in the lead-up to COP29, the announcement said.
2. United Nations: The UN has published a draft on climate financing due to be presented at COP29, Barron's reported, laying out the conflicting positions from which the main country blocs will try to clinch the next climate deal.
3. United States - Trump vs Harris Energy Policy: Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have starkly different visions on how to address a changing climate while ensuring a reliable energy supply, the Associated Press reported, but neither U.S. presidential candidate has provided many details on how they would get there. Among the clues: If Trump is elected, he will scrap a considerable amount of President Biden’s clean energy initiatives, Power Technology reported.
4. United Kingdom - Climate Statement Changes: Nearly half of the UK’s largest companies made restatements on climate and sustainability, Deloitte reported, as new reporting rules loom.
5. Qatar - Solar Service: Qatar’s renewable energy efforts are ramping up with the launch of the ‘BeSolar’ service by the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corp. (Kahramaa), ESG News reported.
6. Australia - Wind vs Coal Energy: The high winds that have been lashing southeastern Australia over the past few days have pushed coal-fired power below 50% of the country’s power mix for the first time ever, Bloomberg reported.
7. India Data Centers: Reliance Industries Ltd. plans to create gigawatt-scale AI-ready data centers in Jamnagar, powered entirely by the company’s green energy initiatives, Firstpost reported.
8. China Exports: China will urge a summit of 50 African nations in Beijing this week to take more of its goods, Reuters reported, before Western curbs kick in on its exports such as electric vehicles and solar panels, in exchange for more pledges of loans and investment.
9. Sweden - Wind Project Paused: Vattenfall has paused development of Sweden's Kriegers Flak offshore wind power project due to a lack of clarity on how it will connect to the national grid, Reuters reported.
D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- Amsterdam Immersive Impact Trip and Masterclass 2024Â (September 5-6)
- LG Energy Summit 2024Â (September 5-6, Brussels, Belgium)
- Workiva Amplify 2024Â (September 9-11, Denver, Colorado)
- RE+ 2024Â (September 9-12, Anaheim, California)
- Diligent Elevate 2024Â (September 9-11, Houston, Texas)
- Complete Calendar of Sustainability Conferences
E. Previous Updates & Future News
- Did You Miss Yesterday's Daily Update?: Here is our previous sustainability, green IT and renewable energy news for technology partners.
- Future Updates: If you have news to share then please email me the details.
