Last June, Kansas City struck up a nearly $16bn partnership with Cisco Systems and Sprint to help make that city a lot smarter. How so? By tapping into digital technologies to improve such vital city services as energy, water and transportation.

Carbon pricing, in the form of a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system, is used by businesses and governments all over the world to cut greenhouse gas emissions and, according to proponents, grow the economy.

Amazon, which has never published a sustainability report, has recently hired sustainability executives that may change the online retail giant's strategy - and reputation - according to the Guardian.

Carbon markets are booming, according to two new reports, and business is playing a key role.

Companies have a major financial incentive to achieve zero waste. In fact, says Eric Lombardi, executive director of Eco-Cycle International, "Waste equals wasted cash."

In the race to put autonomous vehicles on read roads, technology companies may overtake automakers. According to a report from IHS Automotive, companies like Google and others are currently working toward solutions in the autonomous vehicle space and Google is in the lead. IHS Automotive estimates the technology company has invested nearly $60m so far in autonomous vehicle research and development, at a run rate of nearly $30m per year.

Four years into California's historic drought, a $1bn desalination plant is being built by Poseidon Water. The Carlsbad Desalination Project, 12 years in the making, will convert up to 56 million gallons of seawater daily into drinking water for San Diego County. It's the state's first major desalination plant and it could be an answer to the drought, which plagues much of the Western US.