Clean energy developer Shizen Energy announced three new 20-year renewable energy purchase agreements with Microsoft for solar power projects in Japan. The new announcement expands the executed renewable energy purchase deals between the companies to 100 MW across four solar projects, following an initial 25 MW agreement in 2023 for a project in Inuyama City, Microsoft’s first PPA in Japan….
Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry’s Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) announced today the issuance of a new guide aimed at helping companies navigate quality-related claims and avoid potential greenwashing in marketing about their products, services and their businesses. While referring broadly to claims relating to the qualities, uses or benefits associated with products or businesses, CCS said…
ESG data startup Sunhat announced that it has raised €9.2 million (USD$10.8 million) in a Series A funding round, with proceeds aimed at scaling its AI-powered solution to enable enterprises to validate sustainability and regulatory data. Founded in 2022, Germany-based Sunhat provides solutions to help companies to rapidly prove and verify ESG and non-financial data for customers, regulators and investors,…
Sustainability RegTech company Diginex announced the completion of the acquisition of ESG data company Matter, in a transaction valuing Matter’s equity at $13 million, and aimed at enhancing Diginex’s capabilities across ESG data benchmarking, reporting, and AI-driven analytics. Diginex is acquiring the company from majority owner Nasdaq, which announced its initial investment in the company in 2020. Nasdaq will remain…
A group of major companies* including Nestlé, Mars Wrigley and Ferrero, among several others, have issued a letter urging European lawmakers to avoid further delaying the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), a new law aimed at ensuring that products imported to or exported from EU markets no longer contribute to deforestation and forest degradation globally, warning that pushing the implementation of…
This week in ESG news: Net Zero Banking Alliance ceases operations; survey finds businesses facing increasing pressure for sustainability reporting despite regulatory pullback; Microsoft invests in startup to provide low-carbon cement for data centers; Barclays signs its first carbon removal agreement; EU businesses support tougher sustainability regulations than proposed under Omnibus initiative; Apple launches project to restore forests and generate…
As the world shakes off the pandemic induced economic stupor, business leaders are waking up to the realisation that ‘Greenwashing’ is an accounting fraud which could imperil their business. The fraud of Greenwashing is, at its core, a conflict between reported behaviour and actual behaviour, and the organisation’s Executive risk personal liability. Reading Time: 4 minutes Misrepresenting ‘Green’ or ‘Eco’…
The Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) announced that it will cease operations, ending the activities of the UN-backed banking sector coalition dedicated to advancing global net zero goals through their financing activities. The decision was made following a series of high-profile departures from the coalition, leading to a vote by its member banks to significantly restructure the initiative from a membership-based…
The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) announced the launch of a new membership category aimed at strengthening collaboration across the building and construction value chain to accelerate the industry’s net zero ambitions. The association said that decarbonizing cement and concrete, the second most-used material on the planet after water, cannot be achieved without active engagement from the wider building…