Here is today’s sustainability news, research and analysis for technology partners, renewable energy and green IT companies, management consultants, CIOs, chief sustainability officers (CSOs) and c-suite members.
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A. Sustainable Technology, Talent, Partnerships and Alliances
1. Talent - Data Center Sustainability: Digital Realty has named Jo-Ann Garbutt as director of sustainability and government engagement. Garbutt, based in Dublin, Ireland, reports to Chief Data Center Technology and Engineering Officer Lex Coors.
2. Resource - Open Source Software: The 2023 Open Source Sustainability Ecosystem Report, from LF Energy and Protontypes, pinpoints how developers are tapping open source for various sustainability projects.
3. Artificial Intelligence for Sustainability: IBM is touting AI as a way to "accelerates the conversion of data into sustainability insights that help leaders make informed decisions in real-time." Still, AI applications can also boost energy consumption and associated carbon emissions, some critics have warned. Related: See detailed IBM sustainability timeline here.
4. Google Cloud: Multiple enterprises have adopted Google’s Carbon Footprint metric to measure progress toward decarbonizing cloud computing, Information Services Group reported.
5. Software - Carbon Emissions Dashboard: VMware has unveiled a carbon emissions explorer dashboard for VMware Aria Operations. The new dashboard complements the out of the box VMware Aria Operations sustainability dashboards. Conference: Plus, keep an eye on the VMware Explore 2023 conference (Aug 21-24, Las Vegas), which will feature roughly one-dozen sessions focused on sustainability.
6. Carbon Reduction Calculator - Smart Buildings and IoT: Tellabs has launched a carbon reduction calculator that estimates both embodied and operational carbon avoidance as a result of choosing Tellabs Optical Local Area Network (LAN) for Smart Buildings and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity.
7. Distributed Energy Resource Management (DERM): Enersponse has won three-year contract with the California Department of General Services (DGS) to provide demand response (DR) solutions for over 300 agencies and thousands of government facilities across the state.
8. Quarterly Financial Results: Here are earnings reports and updates from multiple companies...
- Electric Vehicles (EVs): Rivian Automotive revenues were $1.12 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2023 -- up from $364 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Net loss was $1.2 billion, down from a $1.7 billion net loss in the corresponding quarter last year.
- Carbon Capture Technology: LanzaTech Global revenue was $12.9 million in Q2 of 2023, up 31% from $9.9 million in Q2 of 2022. Net loss was $26.8 million, which was larger than a $15.9 million net loss in Q2 of 2022.
- EV Charging Stations: Blink Charging revenues were $32.8 million in Q2 of 2023, up 186% compared to $11.5 million inn Q2 of 2022. Net loss was $41.5 million, compared to a $22.6 million net loss in Q2 of 2022.
- EV Charing Infrastructure: Charge Enterprises has delayed the release of its Q2 2023 earnings until August 14. The company is "considering additional disclosures and thus is unable to complete its preparation of its Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2023 in a timely manner," Charge Enterprises said.
- Professional Services: WSP revenues were $3.63 billion in Q2 of 2023, up 31.2% from Q2 of 2022. Adjusted net earnings were $194.7 million, up from $153.5 million in Q1 of 2022.
B. Sustainability M&A, Investments and Funding
1. M&A - South Africa: STANLIB Asset Management, an investor in sustainable infrastructure, has acquired Solareff -- which specializes in solar energy deployments. Solareff also owns GridCars, an EV charging station infrastructure provider.
2. M&A - Lifecycle Management Solutions: CoolSys has acquired 1GNITE, an environmentally friendly asset recovery company.
3. M&A and ESG: Fully 74% of professionals integrate ESG considerations into their M&A plans, KPMG reported.
4. M&A - Energy Grid Modernization: ICF has acquired CMY Solutions -- a company that specializes in grid modernization through engineering and next-generation technology solutions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
5. Funding - Industrial Hydrogen: Verdagy has raised $73 million in Series B funding. Temasek and Shell Ventures co-led the Series B round, with participation from new global investors Bidra Innovation Ventures, BlueScope, Galp, Samsung Venture Investment, Toppan Ventures, Tupras Ventures, Yara Growth Ventures and Zeon Ventures.
C. Regional and Global Sustainability Policies and News
1. COP28: Developed nations have to make good on their promise to provide $100 billion a year in financing to help emerging-market countries combat climate change, according to Majid Al Suwaidi, the director general of the COP28 climate summit, Bloomberg reported. Related: See complete COP28 climate conference timeline, preview and news.
2. United States- Washington, D.C., Mass Transit: As the Washington DC region’s transit system struggles to regain ridership to pre-pandemic levels, its operator is tapping the municipal-bond market for the second time this year to finance sustainability projects, Bloomberg reported.
3. United States - Federal Policy: The top lobbying group for US electric utilities is taking aim at the Biden administration’s plan for stifling greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s power plants, saying proposed requirements are based on technology that isn’t ready for prime time, Bloomberg reported.
4. India - GHG Emissions: India's greenhouse emissions rate dropped by a faster-than-expected 33% in 14 years as renewable energy generation rose and forest cover increased, Reuters reported.
5. India - Construction and Clean Energy: India’s largest engineering and construction company Larsen & Toubro Ltd. plans to invest as much as $12 billion over the next five years, a third of which will go toward expanding its clean energy business, Bloomberg reported.
6. Germany: The country's Climate and Transformation Fund will increase more than €30 billion to about €212 billion ($233 billion) for the period 2024 through 2027, Bloomberg reported.
7. Australia - Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS): Endeavour Energy has selected mPrest to provide an energy software solution for the Bawley Point and Kioloa community microgrid, the first of its kind in NSW, Australia, the organizations said.
D. Sustainability and Green Technology Conference Calendar
- MEMA Sustainability Summit (August 15, Troy, Michigan)
- World ESG Summit 2023Â (August 21-22, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
- VMware Explore 2023 (August 21-24, Las Vegas, Nevada)
- Google Cloud Next 2023 Partner and Customer Conference (August 29-21, San Francisco)
- Sustainability Live 2023Â (Sept. 6-7, London, United Kingdom)
- 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: Send Us Your News Tips. Please email me the details.
