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.
Sustainable Technology, Talent, Partnerships and Green IT Alliances
1. Simplified Sustainability Reporting: What if there was a taxonomy that assists organizations with sustainability reporting -- across multiple regulations and mandates -- worldwide? For clues on what might be coming, check out GRI’s planned new sustainability reporting taxonomy.
2. Contract Win: Circular Computing, the global leader in sustainable IT and notebook remanufacturing, has announced they have been awarded a new contract, worth up to €30M, with Ireland’s Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to supply remanufactured notebooks to the Irish public sector.
3. Partnership - IT Services: Hewlett Packard Enterprise and engineering consultancy Danfoss are partnering to deliver HPE IT Sustainability Services – Data Center Heat Recovery, an "off-the shelf heat recovery module, helping organizations manage and value waste heat as they transition towards more sustainable IT facilities," the organizations said.
4. AI Data Centers and Liquid Cooling: Schneider Electric has published a white paper titled "Navigating Liquid Cooling Architectures for Data Centres with AI Workloads."
5. Partnership: Preqin and Measurabl are partnering to provide carbon emission estimates, energy usage estimates, and green building certificates for almost 100,000 privately held properties listed on Preqin’s platform, the companies said.
6. Partnership - Software and Higher Education: Aspen Technology and Oregon State University (OSU) are partnering to educate students on sustainability software, training and competency development.
7. Partnership - Energy Grid: Deloitte, Utilidata are Nvidia are partnering to help energy companies modernize the U.S. power grid.
8. Partnership - EV Charging: ChargePoint will leverage LG Electronics technologies for EV charging solutions in the U.S., SeekingAlpha reported.
9. Partnership - AI: Basecamp Research and Ferruz Laboratory have partnered to launch ZymCTRL ("enzyme control"), an open-source, text-based enzyme generation model that "can be used across multiple industries, including therapeutics and sustainability initiatives."
10. Research: C-suite executives say they're feeling pressured to make public commitments to improve human sustainability from employees (82%), customers (78%), investors (78%), partners (77%) and board members (77%), Deloitte research revealed.
11. Networks: Three UK, a British telecom cpmpany, has rolled out Ericsson equipment to improve network energy efficiency up to 70% at selected sites, while lowering site footprints and reducing CO2 emissions, the companies said. Specific carbon reduction data was not disclosed.
12. CSRD: The Bloomberg Terminal will feature data that companies have started to report in line with the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The offering is also available via Data License for scalable enterprise-wide use, Bloomberg said.
13. AI Startup: OpenAI co-founder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is starting a new artificial intelligence company called Safe Superintelligence, focused on creating a secure advanced AI system that's smarter than humans, SeekingAlpha reported.
B. Sustainability M&A, Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches
1. Bankrupt - EV Car Maker: Fisker’s bankruptcy filing is reverberating through the electric vehicle market, Seeking Alpha reported, with investors positioning defensively in the event Fisker’s collapse is just the first EV automaker shoe to fall.
2. Accelerator - Google: The Google for Startups Accelerator: Climate Change is accepting applications through July 21, 2024. This is a 10-week, equity-free hybrid program for Seed to Series A startups tackling Climate Change with tech. In partnership with Google Cloud and Google Sustainability, the European program helps high-potential startups based in Europe & Israel grow with the best of Google through a mix of in-person and virtual activities, 1: 1 mentoring, and group learning sessions. Related: See more than 50 climate tech accelerators here.
3. Accelerator - Michigan: The Michigan Justice40 Accelerator has launched to "provide funding and technical support to 25 community-based organizations in frontline communities across the state helping them access federal funding for clean energy and climate-related projects." The accelerator is a joint initiative of EGLE’s Office of Climate and Energy and Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate.
4. Startup Funding - SAFE Financing: Elemental Excelerator has launched the Development Simple Agreement for Future Equity (D-SAFE), which is designed to streamline funding for climate projects. Created in partnership with law firm Wilson Sonsini, the D-SAFE helps climate startups to transition from early-stage VC funding to later-stage growth capital.
5. Startup Funding - Building Energy Management: Sustainable building solutions provider Bisly has raised €6.2 million (USD$6.7 million) in Series A funding. Bisly offers smart building systems – both software and hardware - that are "scalable to customer needs, easy to install, secure, cost effective and require no coding," the company asserts.
6. Exit: Johnson Controls is selling its Air Distribution Technologies business to private equity firm Truelink Capital. The deal, expected to close in late 2024, will include such brands as Koch Filter, Titus, Ruskin, Krueger, PennBarry and Tuttle & Bailey and their product lines of grilles, registers and diffusers, terminal units, fire and smoke dampers, louvers, filters and fans. The Johnson Controls and Enviro-Tec brands are not included in the deal. Financial terms were not disclosed. Johnson Controls is striving to sell off certain assets while sharpening its focus on sustainable building technologies. Meanwhile, activist investors may be targeting Johnson Controls for more aggressive business changes.
7. M&A - Carbon Accounting Software: Workiva has Workiva has acquired Sustain.Life to launch Workiva Carbon, a software platform that can help customers with global climate regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), SEC’s climate disclosure rules, and California’s Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) and Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261), the company said.
8. M&A - MSP and Energy Consulting: Global management consultancy Oliver Wyman has acquired Veritas Total Solutions, an energy sector consulting firm that has MSP and ESG advisory expertise.
9. M&A - Data Center Energy Supplies: Qualus has acquired Asset Engineering, a power engineering and consulting firm focused on renewable generation development, battery energy storage systems, microgrids, and distributed energy resources that support data centers and other critical infrastructure facilities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
10. M&A - Infrastructure and Energy Services: Energy Systems Group (ESG), a provider of sustainable infrastructure and energy services, has acquired Yearout Energy Services, a design-build construction company. The deal reinforces ESG's services for building infrastructure owners -- including custom design, engineering, construction, and operations and maintenance services related to energy efficiency, distributed generation, resiliency, and sustainability solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
11. 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. United States - Trump: A November 2024 presidential election win for Donald Trump will threaten $369 billion in U.S. clean energy initiatives from the Biden administration’s landmark climate law, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
2. Australia - Financial Services Policies: The Australian government has released the Sustainable Finance Roadmap, a "vision for the implementation of key sustainable finance reforms and related measures," the government said.
D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- 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.
