š CAT 238 - 2024-09-22
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 238 of the ClimateAction.tech (CAT) Newsletter - your weekly summary of what's happening inside the CAT community, and in the wider world of climate and tech. New to CAT or looking to re-discover the community? Try outĀ our onboarding checklist.
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Stay safe & healthy š š š±
CAT Community News
š CAT mini grant project update
In case you missed it last week, FranƧois Burra gave a quick update on their mini-grant to collect and showcase sustainable digital case studies. You can alwaysĀ submit your case study here if you have a great story to share!
š§ Knowledge base deepdive
Carbon footprint: Do you know how to calculate GHG emissions for your company, product, service, or different areas of your life? Log into the CAT knowledge base with your CAT Slack account to explore carbon footprint terminology, links to different types of emission trackers, and other relevant resources. And help a fellow CAT improve their estimates by adding your own recommendations.
#ļøā£ Slack channel highlights
āØ New channel #culture-society āØ:Ā MĀ shared some quotesĀ from the book 'Less is more',Ā AĀ asked whether the bookĀ describes ways to implement degrowth in the economy, andĀ AĀ introduced theĀ concept of Nature Benefit Systems.
#greener-data-ai:Ā AĀ shared an article aboutĀ Microsoft's Hypocrisy on AIĀ andĀ C shared aĀ Green Web Foundation post about the environmental impact of AIĀ that a few CATs reviewed recently.
#3-questions-and-ideas: SĀ asked where everyone is at with their sustainability work internally (especially folks working in big tech).Ā Where are you at?
ā¤ļø Help a CAT
LĀ (inspired by aĀ question from Joanna Bryson) is looking for pointers for a year-by-year graph for the last decade of proportion of electricity & silicon to conventional ai/data processing, foundation models, rendering for films/ entertainment, home gaming and last but by no means least crypto mining.Ā Help by replying in the thread
MĀ is looking for feedback on a blog post aboutĀ #greener-design.Ā Share thoughts by replying the the thread
š CAT events
A bit of a house-keeping update:Ā We are closing our MeetUp accountĀ due to monetary and time-investment costs (more on this decision in ourĀ notes from our Open Meeting in July).
Where can you go to find upcoming CAT events?Ā We'll continue to announce CAT events right here as well as inĀ #4-cat-events. Also keep an eye on your #local channel to find any informal or formal events where you can meet fellow CATs.
This week local events events were shared inĀ #local-new-yorkĀ andĀ #local-switzerlandĀ and there were some conversations about the Green IO conference (that took place last Thursday) in ourĀ #local-londonĀ channel.
š© Community networking
Every 2 weeks, we match 2-3 CATs so you can connect over a quick 30-minute call. Simply joinĀ #cat-roulette, pick your region and wait for a message fromĀ DonutĀ about your match! Our next round of matches will go out onĀ Fri, Oct 4th.Ā More info
Media, events, and news
šŗ CAT recommendations
š± A cutting from Branch issue 8
The perfect data paradox
"If you don't want to be a pioneer, these reasons for avoiding using imperfect data will serve you well. They are answers that are routinely used when lobbying, when answering customer demands for emissions data and when satisfying your investors.
But, if you hear them, or you're thinking about speaking them ā remember that there are others who have already chosen solutions over avoidance, and there are many more lining up behind them.Ā "
ā¶ļø CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
Planet A: How can we harness gravity to solve our energy needs?
Gravity batteries are a new big hope for storing excess renewable electricity. The idea is ingenious. Does it pass the reality check?
š¤Ā Podcasts
The latest climate-related podcast episodes. Don't forget, if you're looking around, there's a list of podcasts maintained by CATs
Volts: How the Biden investments are changing America
In this episode, we explore the Biden administration's ambitious industrial investment strategy with Heather Boushey, a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisors and chief economist for his Invest in America Cabinet.
Zero: Trump vs Harris: What you need to know about their climate plans
In a little more than six weeks, Americans will cast their votes in a presidential election that has enormous stakes for the future of the planet. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi sits down with energy and environment reporter Jen Dlouhy to talk about how Kamala Harris could advance US climate policy ā and how Donald Trump could chip away at it.
Catalyst with Shayle Khan: Can AI revolutionize materials discovery?
AI is working its way across climate tech, helping companies discover giant lodes of ore, catch battery defects, and monitor energy infrastructure. Could it help us find revolutionary new materials, too?
Turns out, itās complicated.
Environment Variables: Green Software with Gaƫl Amongst the Whales
This week we are joined by two PhD researchers, Silke Kaiser and Chiara Fusar Bassini, from the Hertie School in Berlin. With host Chris Adams they share insights into their research on predicting cycling traffic in cities to better inform urban planning and promote sustainable transport, and analyzing European energy data to support the renewable energy transition.
Green IO #45 - Assessing digital sustainabilityās maturity with Aiste Rugeviciute and Rob Price
In the early 2020s, companies started facing a big question: how could they be more responsible in the digital world? Could something similar to CSR exist for this virtual and yet highly materialized world? Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) was coined to offer some much-needed guidance. GaĆ«l DUEZ chats with two renowned experts in CDR: Aiste Rugeviciute, co-author of āB.A.-BA du NumĆ©rique Responsableā and now pursuing a PhD in the socio-ecological impacts of CDR strategies, and Rob Price, a key player in developing an international CDR framework
š Submitted events
Want an event listed here? Use this event listing form to submit the details so we can add it in the newsletter.
Tue Sep 24 2024 - Sustainability Creatives #OpenDoorClimate Office Hours
Join me & the Sustainability Creatives at our #OpenDoorClimate Office Hours where we explore the topic: Designing your Social Media Channels! No previous experience with social media is required!
Wed Oct 02 2024 - BBC Climate Creatives Conference 2024
Climate Creatives returns for its fourth annual conference in association with BBC Academy Fusion.
Tue Oct 08 2024 - How to make your money fossil free
Join Green Squirrel & Lisa Stanley from Good with Money to help us navigate the connections between our finances and the fossil fuel industry. You'll leave with impactful actions that you can put into practice right away.
Tue Oct 08 2024 - The Global Nature Positive Summit 2024
Global Nature Positive Summit aims to boost private sector investment to protect and repair our environment. With a focus on solutions to climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
Fri Oct 11 2024 - Better Software
Italian Conference about Sustainable IT
Mon Oct 14 2024 - SxSW Sydney
From a grassroots start in Austin TX, 1987 to a new, second home in Sydney Australia. Tech Innovation with track focus on Energy, Climate & Sustainability
š° News Highlights
Github Blog: The 10 best tools to green your software
Looking for ways to code in a more sustainable way? Weāve got you covered with our top list of tools to help lower your carbon footprint.
Heatmap News: What Does OpenAIās New Breakthrough Mean for Energy Consumption?
The newest set of models from OpenAI, o1-mini and o1-preview, exhibit more āreasoningā than existing large language models and associated interfaces, which spit out answers to prompts almost instantaneously. But is it also a significant advancement in energy usage? In the short run at least, almost certainly, as spending more time āthinkingā and generating more text will require more computing power. As Erik Johannes Husom, a researcher at SINTEF Digital, a Norwegian research organization, told me, āIt looks like weāre going to get another acceleration of generative AIās carbon footprint.ā
LinkedIn: What green digital leaders are saying about green digital ā takeaways from the Green IO conference
Yesterday I attended the Green IO conference in London with Oliver Cook and Duncan Heron from TPXimpact | B Corpā¢. As a BCorp and digital transformation business, the need for us to help our clients reduce the carbon impact of their digital services and estates has not escaped us. Iām still digesting a lot of what Iāve learned and there is definitely not enough of my own opinions in here but I thought it would still be useful to share my rough notes from the day.
New Scientist: People hugely underestimate the carbon footprints of the 1 per cent (archive link)
In a survey of thousands of people, respondents underestimated the massive difference between the carbon footprints of the wealthiest and poorest individuals. People consistently underestimate the personal carbon footprints of the top 1 per cent of the worldās wealthiest individuals while overestimating the carbon emissions of low-income people. This could negatively impact climate justice efforts and support for the most effective policies for mitigating climate change.
BBC: Norway sees electric cars outnumber petrol models
Norway, one of the world's largest exporters of oil, now has more electric cars on its roads than petrol-driven vehicles. The Nordic country of 5.5 million people is aiming to become the first nation to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars - by 2025.
Toronto Star: Canadaās carbon emissions drop for first time since the pandemic
Canadaās national carbon emissions have recorded their first post-pandemic drop, according to an early estimate of 2023 emissions put out by the Canadian Climate Institute.
Emissions fell 0.8 per cent between 2022 and 2023, the publicly-funded institute found, led by reductions in the electricity and buildings sectors. These gains were partially cancelled out by an increase in the oil and gas industry, which now accounts for nearly a third of all emissions nationwide.
Google pauses Chilean data center project to rethink water use
Google has halted plans for a data center in Chile in order to change its designs. Earlier this year a Chilean environmental court partially reversed Google's permit, telling the hyperscaler to revise its application to take into account the effects of climate change, amid local pushback and water concerns over its use of the capital's strained aquifer. Google announced Tuesday that it would revise the project to comply with more stringent environmental requirements and change its water-intensive cooling system.
Washington Post: Microsoft deal would reopen Three Mile Island nuclear plant to power AI
Pennsylvaniaās dormant Three Mile Island nuclear plant would be brought back to life to feed the voracious energy needs of Microsoft under an unprecedented deal announced Friday in which the tech giant would buy 100 percent of its power for 20 years.
If approved by regulators, Three Mile Island would provide Microsoft with the energy equivalent it takes to power 800,000 homes, or 835 megawatts. Never before has a U.S. nuclear plant come back into service after being decommissioned, and never before has all of a single commercial nuclear power plantās output been allocated to a single customer.
Jobs
Remember only jobs listing salary ranges are listed here - to get your job listed, you need to list a salary range. Folks can still look in the #jobs channel. Remember: if you're looking for advice finding a role, check our #climate-careers channel.
Icebreaker One - Senior Project Manager - Up to Ā£550/day - Contract - Totally remote
Icebreaker One is a non-profit that helps organisations across the economy share data more effectively to achieve their net-zero targets. Our programmes are collaborative efforts with a wide range of stakeholders to develop legal, technical and procedural solutions for trusted data sharing. We have been successful in winning new projects for the second half of 2024 and consequently need an experienced project manager to join our existing PM team to ensure our work is delivered on time and within scope.
4WARD's Global Climate Community - Climate "Local" Community Coordination Superstar - Unpaid Fellowship - Intern Fellowship - Totally remote
4WARD's has a part-time, unpaid fellowship to become a Climate Community Coordination Superstar to help plan, promote & support our 100s of local city meetup leaders.
Support our work
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