Sustainable Technology News 22 May 2024: Circular Integrity, Eaton, ERM, Novata, PowerFlex, More

Here is today’s sustainability news, research and analysis for technology partners, renewable energy consultants and green IT service providers. Today's sustainability news also involves management consultants, CIOs, chief sustainability officers (CSOs), c-suite members and climate accounting professionals.

A. Sustainable Technology, Talent, Partnerships and Green IT Alliances

1. Partner Program - EV Charging Solutions: PowerFlex has launched a reseller partner program to "make it easy and profitable for partners to sell PowerFlex's electric vehicle (EV) charging software and solutions to their customers," PowerFlex said.

2. Partnership - EV Charging: ChargePoint and Airbnb are partnering to make it easier for Airbnb hosts in the United States to "install EV chargers at their listings and expand access to EV chargers across the U.S.," the two companies said.

3. Research - E-Waste Recycling Market Growth Forecast: The global e-waste recycling market will reach $130.84 billion in 2033, up from $25 billion in 2023, The Brainy Insights predicted. That's an 18% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), the researcher said.

4. EV Sales - Financial Services Challenges: An EV adoption slowdown may impact financial institutions that have pledged to decarbonize the loans and investments they make, Bloomberg Reported.

5. Update - ESG Software: The IBM Envizi ESG Suite has gained enhanced planning and forecasting capabilities, the technology company said.

6. Partnership - CSRD Compliance and Hospitality: BeCause and d2o are partnering to a develop Corporate Social Responsibility Directive (CSRD) solution for hotels.

7. Partnership - AWS and Nvidia: Amazon will transition from Nvidia Grace Hopper chips to Nvidia Blackwell chips for project Ceiba, a supercomputer that AWS and Nvidia are building together, Reuters reported.

8. Leadership and Talent - IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) Consulting: Circular Integrity has hired PlanITROI and Ingram Micro veteran Tim Suhling as president. He will work closely with CEO & Founder Todd Zegers, the company said. Circular Integrity helps companies and investors in the IT supply chain to "modernize & optimize their ITAD & Reverse Logistics programs."

9. Leadership and Talent - Financial Services: LeapFrog Investments has hired Just Climate veteran Souleymane Ba as partner and co-head of climate strategy. Nakul Zaveri also is co-head of that effort.

10. Leadership and Talent - Real Estate Services: Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has hired KPMG veteran Teanna Tan as director of sustainable solutions for Asia Pacific.

11. Leadership and Talent - Consulting: ERM, which positions itself as the world’s largest specialized sustainability consultancy, has hired KPMG veteran Liam Walsh as chief commercial officer.

12. Data Centers - Backup Generators: Scala Data Centers has successfully tested hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO -- also known as green diesel) to power its Caterpillar backup generators.

13. Renewable Energy - Amazon: The company is leveraging solar energy, batteries and AI to "help decarbonize the grid," according to a blog post.

14. Solar Energy - Warning Signals: Maxeon Solar Technologies will delay the release of its Q4 2023 and Q1 2024 financial results for a second time. The results will now surface on May 30, 2024, the company said. The additional time is "necessary to complete the Company's preparation of its annual and quarterly reports and to provide the market with a comprehensive business update," Maxeon asserted. Maxeon's stock ($MAXN) is down roughly 90% from May 2023 through May 22, 2024.

B. Sustainability M&A, Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches

1. Funding - ESG Software: Novata has raised new funding from Hamilton Lane, S&P Global and Motive Ventures, which is backed by Apollo Global Management. Novata’s technology platform and expert services "accelerates ESG data collection, simplifies carbon measurement and reporting, and helps companies respond to regulation," the company said. Novata did not disclose how much money the funding round involved.

2. Funding - Venture Capital: European sustainable venture capital firm ETF Partners has raised €285 million (USD$310 million) for its fourth fund, ESG Today reported.

3. Funding - IT Equipment Recycling: Humble Sustainability has raised funding from Gobi Partners and several other backers. The May 2024 funding round follows Humble's oversubscribed seed round led by Seedstars International Ventures in late 2022. Humble helps businesses sell their old IT equipment instead of throwing it away, reducing electronic waste. Moreover, Humble customers receive reports and analytics to "guide them in achieving their ESG objectives." The company is striving to move one billion devices into the circular economy by 2030.

4. M&A - Environmental Consulting Services: Momentum Environmental has acquired T&R Environmental, a provider of environmental services based in Upstate New York. T&R Founder Brian Polmanteer shifts to senior VP of Momentum. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

5. M&A - IT Consulting and Energy Transitions: Accenture has acquired Partners in Performance, a global strategy consulting firm focused on such vertical markets as metals and mining; oil and gas; utilities; and chemicals. Key areas of expertise include energy transition and decarbonization services, Accenture said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

6. M&A - Power Management and Monitoring: Eaton has acquired Exertherm, a privately owned, U.K.-based provider of thermal monitoring solutions for electrical equipment. The acquired business and technology will tuck into Eaton's Brightlayer software unit, which focuses on "intelligent power management." Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

7. M&A - Liquid Cooled Data Centers: Investment firm King Street Capital Management has acquired a majority stake in Colovore, a Silicon Valley-based data center operator that specializes in liquid-cooled, high-density colocation for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

8. 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. Germany Net Zero Strategy: Germany's economy ministry presented its concept to create a market for climate-friendly products, Reuters reported, as Germany aims to become carbon neutral by 2045 and seeks ways to cut emissions in its steel, cement and chemicals industries.

2. Australia - Sustainability Research: Almost half of businesses (49%) in Australia intend to increase their sustainability investments over the next three years, up 11% points since last year (38%), SAP said.

3. Kenya - IT Services Partnership: Microsoft and G42, a consulting firm in United Arab Emirates (UAE) are partnering to build various digital solutions in Kenya. As part of the agreement, G42 and local partners will "design and build a state-of-the-art data center campus in Olkaria, Kenya, run entirely on renewable geothermal energy and designed with state-of-the-art water conservation technology. The data center will run on and provide access to Microsoft Azure through a new East Africa Cloud Region, which will become operational within 24 months of the signing of the definitive agreements," the two companies said.

D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar

1. Circularity 2024 (May 22-24, Chicago, Illinois)
2. Apidays (May 28-29, Helsinki)
3. Concordia Europe Summit (May 28-29, Porto, Portugal)
4. Cisco Live 2024 (June 2-6, Las Vegas, Nevada)
5. ClimaTech 2024 (June 3-6, Boston, Massachusetts)
6. Complete Calendar of Sustainability Conferences

E. Previous Updates & Future News

1. Did You Miss Yesterday's Daily Update?: Here is our previous sustainability, green IT and renewable energy news for technology partners.
2. Future Updates: If you have news to share then please email me the details.