The EV transition and new corporate climate initiatives
Startups driving sustainability showcase is on Feb 11. Don’t forget to sign up!
One year since Microsoft announced it would go carbon negative. In one year, the company has reduced carbon emissions by 6%, has purchased 1.3 million metric tons of carbon offsets, and created new plans to link sustainability progress to executive pay. link
Mastercard also issued new plans to be carbon net-zero by 2050. link
Exxon gives in to green activist investors. Under pressure, the company will make changes to its board and invest in renewable energy and other sustainability initiatives. link
GM will offer only all-electric vehicles by 2035. The company is also aiming for carbon neutrality in the same year. link
The U.S. government plans to upgrade to an all EV fleet of 650,000 vehicles. The new administration will also build EV charging stations and spend more on clean energy. link
EV charging company, EVgo, is going public via merging with a SPAC valuing approximately $2.6 billion. The new funds will power rapid expansion of its charging stations across the U.S. link
Accenture and Salesforce team up on ESG. ESG data will be available on Salesforce Sustainability Cloud built on the Salesforce Customer 360 platform and will increase visibility and reporting on company sustainability initiatives. link
Fidelity also launched a new ESG product that helps financial advisors construct and manage ESG portfolios.link
Even Robert Downey Jr. is investing in sustainable startups. The actor launched Footprint Coalition Ventures, a rolling venture fund to back early and late-stage sustainability startups. link
Can NY State get product manufacturers to pay for recycling? A new bill would require that manufacturers pick up the tab for recycling and also includes incentives to reduce packaging and use sustainable materials. link
Eastman to build a plastic to plastic recycling facility. It plans to create an optimized circular economy by converting polyester waste to durable products using methanolysis. link
Startup Spotlight: Ecolytics
www.ecolytics.io
Ecolytics is an ESG data and analytics company.
The company first identifies a company's operational and tech impact on the environment and then provides recommendations on how to improve performance.