Sustainability

St. Louis – September 13, 2026 -- Island Roadhouse Data Centers has detailed design plans for an atomic-powered, low-water data center campus in Missouri offering up to 154 MW of sellable IT load in its first phase, targeting commercial operation in 2034.

Campus design generates its own power behind the meter using advanced atomic reactors

The facility is planned to run on advanced atomic reactors in an N+1 configuration for reactor-level redundancy, with heat converted to electricity via an indirect closed supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle. The campus is not designed to export power to the grid; all generation is intended to serve the on-site compute load directly.

United States – September 13, 2026 -- Natilus has promoted Nolan Giblin to Chief Operating Officer, elevating the executive who helped build the blended-wing-body aircraft maker's order book to more than 570 pre-orders valued at $24 billion.

Giblin secured reservation deals with Ameriflight and Nolinor Aviation since 2022

Giblin joined Natilus in 2022 as Head of Business Development and negotiated reservation agreements with operators including Ameriflight and Nolinor Aviation, expanding the company's commercial order book for its KONA and HORIZON EVO aircraft programs.

Delray Beach – September 13, 2026 -- The global data center energy storage systems market is set to grow from $5.17 billion in 2026 to $10.48 billion by 2032, a 12.5% compound annual growth rate, according to a new MarketsandMarkets report.

AI and cloud expansion drive storage demand across hyperscale facilities

Hyperscale, colocation, and enterprise data centers serving BFSI, healthcare, manufacturing, e-commerce, and IT & telecommunications clients are reinforcing power infrastructure as AI workloads strain grid capacity. Cloud & hyperscale data centers are projected to post the fastest growth among data center types at a 14.8% CAGR through 2032, commanding the largest revenue share as operators scale computing capacity requiring uninterrupted power.

Singapore – September 13, 2026 -- TÜV SÜD has opened its new Global Decarbonisation Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Singapore, backed by an investment exceeding $24 million with support from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).

Investment builds on SustainCERT acquisition to scale digital carbon verification

The Munich-based testing and certification group launched the CoE following its recent acquisition of Luxembourg-based SustainCERT, an accredited validation and verification body specializing in digital measurement, reporting and verification (dMRV). The combined capabilities target carbon data integrity, carbon markets and independent assessment services as governments prepare to implement Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

Vienna – September 13, 2026 -- Elizaveta Rîmscaia of Moldova was crowned Overall Champion at the Julius Meinl International Barista Cup 2026 Grand Finale, held September 4 in Vienna's MuseumsQuartier, beating 14 other national champions across three brewing disciplines.

Austrian barista Mario Benetseder claims cappuccino title on home turf

Benetseder secured the win in the Cappuccino discipline, judged on the interplay of espresso and milk plus latte art execution. Stefan Kot of Poland took the Espresso category, evaluated on taste, balance and crema, while Luka Darispanashvili of Georgia won Signature Drink for creativity and flavor cohesion.

Competition drew over 350 applicants across 15 countries

National qualifying rounds ran in 15 markets including Austria, Italy, Germany, China, Georgia and Croatia, narrowing more than 350 barista applicants down to 15 national champions who advanced to the Vienna final.

Wörth am Rhein – September 12, 2026 -- Mercedes-Benz Trucks has delivered the first 27 battery-electric eActros 600 trucks to Amazon, with the e-commerce giant set to operate more than 50 of the vehicles across its German logistics network by the end of 2026.

Delivery marks first tranche of Amazon's largest-ever electric truck order

The handover forms part of a contract signed in early 2025 covering more than 200 eActros 600 units, Amazon's largest electric truck order to date. Most of the fleet will operate in the United Kingdom, where Mercedes-Benz Trucks began deliveries in late 2025. The trucks will run on Germany's so-called middle-mile routes, moving goods between logistics centers and urban areas.

Hamburg – – September 12, 2026 -- German households will illuminate a record 23.39 billion Christmas lights this festive season, pushing national electricity consumption for holiday lighting to roughly 533 million kilowatt-hours, according to the 16th annual LichtBlick Christmas survey conducted by YouGov Deutschland.

Electricity demand for holiday lighting rises 42 million kilowatt-hours year-on-year

The survey, based on 2,103 respondents polled between August 24 and August 25, 2026, found that total power consumption for Christmas lighting climbed from approximately 491 million kilowatt-hours last year to 533 million kilowatt-hours. Powering all lights with green electricity would avoid 159,900 tonnes of CO2, based on a grey-power emissions factor of 300 grams CO2 per kilowatt-hour (BDEW, 2025 data), which currently implies direct emissions of 146,200 tonnes.

Portland – September 12, 2026 -- The Green Sports Alliance has appointed Jeff Pacini as its new Executive Director, placing a two-decade sports management and philanthropy veteran atop the global coalition of sports team and venue executives focused on sustainability.

Prodigy Search led the national executive search that selected Pacini

The Green Sports Alliance conducted an extensive national search through Prodigy Search before selecting Pacini to steer the organization, which convenes professional sports leagues, governing bodies, colleges, teams and venues around environmental and social impact initiatives.

Boston – September 12, 2026 -- Wood Partners has broken ground on Alta Thoreau, a 237-unit multifamily community in Concord, Massachusetts, roughly 20 miles northwest of Boston, with completion targeted for February 2028.

Wood Partners builds its first Passive House community in Massachusetts

The development at 265 and 269 Forest Ridge Road will comprise two five-story residential buildings offering one-, two- and three-bedroom homes. Alta Thoreau marks Wood Partners' first project in Massachusetts built to the Passive House standard, targeting ultra-low energy use, and will run entirely on electric power. The site will also incorporate porous pavement as a sustainable alternative to traditional paving.

Barcelona – September 11, 2026 -- The Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) will convene 1,000 cities, more than 25,000 visitors, over 1,000 exhibitors and 600 speakers in Barcelona from November 3-5, 2026, organized by Fira de Barcelona under the theme "Urban Solutions, Real Impact."

Housing takes center stage as a top urban priority

The 2026 edition places special emphasis on housing, one of the most pressing challenges facing cities globally, showcasing technologies aimed at delivering scalable, tangible results. SCEWC will host the first edition of "HOWS Barcelona," a new global housing summit focused on urban planning, land policy, housing law, affordable housing and building renovation and reuse.