IBM believes that science, technology and innovation can help tackle environmental stress while helping communities to address societal needs.

• According to the World Bank, climate-related disasters and natural hazards push 26 million people into poverty each year, putting these populations in need of technical, financial and institutional resources that enable communities to respond to climate change, support climate adaptation and build resiliency.

• By uniting experts and technology, IBM wanted to find a way to scale and speed up solutions that support communities.

The IBM Sustainability Accelerator has had 20 engagements, each with a different nonprofit or government organization, divided into four cohorts: sustainable agriculture, clean energy, water management and resilient cities.

IBM selects five organizations each year—forming a cohort—to focus on addressing a specific social innovation issue area in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The selection process includes a public RFP open to any nonprofit or government organization. Proposals are reviewed and evaluated for feasibility and impact, and vetted through standard IBM compliance processes. The selection process will include input from IBM experts across disciplines such as IBM Consulting, Research, Software, Chief Sustainability Office and Corporate Social Responsibility. The selection criteria will consider applicants' level of support to communities, the feasibility and sustainability of proposed technology solutions, and applicants' transparency on measurement and reporting, among other considerations.

IBM collaborates with organizations to design, develop and deploy a technical solution directly benefiting communities. Throughout the experience, IBM provides access to platforms such as IBM watsonx and Granite AI models, IBM Cloud, IBM Environmental Intelligence and Red Hat open source technologies as well as technical mentorship to build long-term capacity. Organizations selected to participate must enter into an IBM grant agreement governing access to IBM technology, services and resources.

In addition to support from IBM, the selected organizations will also receive support from EY and ServiceNow. EY teams will provide general capacity building workshops and coaching to the cohort, supporting these innovative organizations on their mission. ServiceNow will provide participating organizations with the opportunity to be considered for ServiceNow Platform solutions such as IT Service Management (ITSM) and Customer Service Management (CSM) and implementation grants in addition to advisory support for business digital transformation efforts.

The IBM Sustainability Accelerator is open to nonprofit and government organizations globally.

IBM is accepting proposals for the next IBM Sustainability Accelerator cohort now through 30 April 2025. The Accelerator will support each selected organization for up to two years.

IBM plans to select five organizations for this program each year.