IBM announces five members selected for its Sustainability Accelerator programme
IBM has announced five global non-profits as new members of the Sustainability Accelerator programme.
The programme is a global pro bono social impact program which seeks to help marginalized communities to get just and equitable access to sustainable energy resources.
The IBM Sustainability Accelerator is a pro bono global environmental program that applies IBM technologies, like artificial intelligence and hybrid cloud, and an ecosystem of experts to enhance and scale non-profit and governmental organizations’ solutions to environmental threats impacting the most vulnerable populations.
The initiative will support organizations such as United Nations Development Programme, Sustainable Energy for All, Net Zero Atlantic, Miyakojima City Government, and Environment Without Borders Foundation for this IBM Sustainability Accelerator environmental cohort.
All new members will focus on accelerating clean energy projects. IBM has previously announced it plans to select five organizations for this program each year and expects to provide $30 million worth of services by the end of 2023.
According to the International Energy Agency, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, disruptions to global supply chains, and diversion of fiscal resources to keep food and fuel prices affordable, have affected the pace of progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 7) of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy by 2030.
“With the IBM Sustainability Accelerator, we are convening experts and using innovative technologies to help tackle the toughest environmental challenges our planet faces; and transitioning to clean energy is a critical step right now,” said Justina Nixon-Saintil, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG at IBM. “With this new cohort, helping marginalized communities get just and equitable access to sustainable energy resources not only helps the world achieve the goal of UN SDG7, but can help in the larger global energy transition.”
After evaluating more than 100 submissions from around the world, IBM selected these organizations to become the clean energy cohort of the program. The announcement was made at at COP27.
The selection process considered the applicant’s commitment to support communities who are especially vulnerable to environmental threats, its ability to increase access to affordable clean energy services, its strategic focus and transparency on measurement and reporting, among others.
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