June 25, 2023

🌍 CAT Newsletter #176 - 2023-06-25

CAT 176 - 2023-06-25

Hey CATs,

Welcome to issue 176 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 out our onboarding checklist.

Remember you can unsubscribe from this newsletter at any time - the link is at the bottom.

Stay safe & healthy 😌 💚 🐱

CAT Community News

🗳️ Last chance!

Our member survey closes next Friday! If you haven’t done so already, we’d love to hear your feedback on CAT and ideas for improvements through our twice-a-year member survey (takes about 5-7mins to fill out). Thank you!

CAT is officially a Community Interest Company!

ClimateAction.tech has incorporated as ClimateAction.tech Community Interest Company in the UK. A community interest company is a legal form of organisation which exists solely to benefit the community (i.e fellow CATS rather than private shareholders), and as CAT has grown to more than 9000 members, the need to have some formal governance as too. This should make it easier to fund various community focussed projects, like more events, a new mini-grant programme and more. See more in Slack

#️⃣ Slack highlights

• ✨ NEW CHANNEL #proj-climatechangeai: Join this channel if you’re participating in the Climate Change AI Summer School! A few folks already shared their introductions and Caroline shared the lecture pre-read in the channel as well!

• #greener-leadership: Melissa asked whether there are others here who are organizers or community managers? Tell us what you’re working on

• #civic-tech: Myf shared a case study on emissions reduction and regional inequality. Take a look and share your thoughts

Channel hosts Caroline & Nat are now doing recaps for our popular #greener-webdev channel! Check them out in the channel

📆 CAT events

▶️ Tue, Jul 4 · Watch Party: How Airships Could Overcome a Century of Failure

👋 Thu, Jul 20 · CAT Coffee (western-friendly): Networking

In August we’ll be taking a break with our events. We’ll use the time to realign our programs and what we do with our Theory of Change and community needs. CAT volunteers will be working on this - if you’d like to be involved, let @Sandra know on Slack.

🍩 Community networking

Our next #cat-roulette matches are going out on Fri, July 7! Join the channel, pick your region and Donut matches you with other channel members every other week! It’s a great way to get to know other CATs and you can start and stop at any time.

✋ Looking for volunteers

📍 Get a local group of CATs together for a meetup: Volunteer to organise a CAT event or connect to your neighbours by coordinating with everyone to go to an existing event! For help with how to get started, reach out to @Sandra.

📆 CAT 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 Jun 27 2023 - Green UX/UI for a greater web – uXchange hybrid meetup

Let’s talk about about Green UX/UI Design with Sandy Dähnert from Green the Web. We as designers are incredibly powerful. Let’s use our talents to reduce the negative impacts of digital products on nature and increase the positive impact. Because we need to. And we can.

Check #external-events in the CAT slack for more.

🎬 CAT videos

CAT videos, geddit? 10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to topics related to climate.

NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio - Hypnotic video of how atmospheric carbon dioxide tagged by source accumulates over the year

This visualization shows the CO2 being added to Earth’s atmosphere over the course of the year 2021, split into four major contributors: fossil fuels in orange, burning biomass in red, land ecosystems in green, and the ocean in blue. The dots on the surface also show how atmospheric carbon dioxide is also being absorbed by land ecosystems in green and the ocean in blue. (Note: Each video is about 2 minutes long, and I’ve never seen anything like it - it’s very sharable, and like the opposite of the famous blue markle photo of earth)

🎤 Podcasts

The latest climate-related podcast episodes. Don’t forget, if you’re looking around, there’s a list of podcasts maintained by CATs

The State of Green Software Survey with Tamara Kneese

In this episode of Environment Variables, we cover the State of Green Software Report with the Green Software Foundation’s very own lead researcher Tamara Kneese. She and host Chris Adams delve into the insights from the report including key topics such as the carbon footprint of crypto mining, regulations for generative AI, and the role of consulting firms in shaping emerging technologies. They also discuss how the results highlighted the impact of the tech industry, AI sustainability, and the need for responsible innovation.

The Carbon Copy: How AI is being used in energy right now

Priya Donti of Climate Change AI and Savannah Goodman of Google describe the different ways artificial intelligence is shaping energy today. The emergence of AI will have an enormous impact on creativity, corporate structures and economic productivity — and on the engine that drives our economy: energy. Will we use it in the right way? This week, we feature two conversations from Post Script Media’s recent Transition-AI conference in Boston.

Catalyst with Shayle Khan

To reach net zero, the American solar industry will have to meet ambitious installation targets while navigating IRA rules, supply-chain shortages and looming tariffs. In this episode, Shayle talks about the state of the U.S. solar industry with Ethan Zindler, head of Americas at BloombergNEF. They cover topics including: the generous manufacturing incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, the conditions to qualify for the incentives, such as meeting prevailing wages, building in energy communities and sourcing domestic content, mooming competition from manufacturers in Southeast Asia, and more.

Cleaning up - Ep131: Tzeporah Berman “Canada’s Controversial Queen of Green”

This week’s guest on Cleaning Up is Tzeporah Berman. Tzeporah has been leading environmental campaigns in her native Canada and beyond for over thirty years. Today, she is Chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, and International Program Director at Stand.earth, the environmental organisation that she co-founded. Tzeporah and Michael take in everything from helping turn Meta and other tech giants off coal and onto renewables, fighting fossil and pipeline expansion in Alberta, and whether a non-proliferation treaty could be the solution for a managed decline of fossil fuel use.

Outrage and Optimisim 205: How To Talk About Climate Change So People Will Listen

Welcome to another episode of Outrage + Optimism, where we examine issues at the forefront of the climate crisis, interview change-makers, and transform our anger into productive dialogue about building a sustainable future. This week our hosts discuss the slow progress made at the negotiations in Bonn which concluded last week. Christiana also touches on the New World Bank report, Detox Development: Repurposing Environmentally Harmful Subsidies, highlighting the trillions of dollars wasted on subsidies for agriculture, fishing and fossil fuels that could be used to help address climate change instead of harming people and the planet.

Zero: With a $9 billion bet on batteries, the US is just getting started

Jigar Shah is the director of the US Loan Programme Office and joins Zero to give an exclusive on the organization’s biggest ever loan: $9.2 billion to BlueOval SK, a joint venture between US auto giant Ford and South Korean battery manufacturer SK On. The money will be used to build battery factories for Ford’s growing line of electric vehicles. Jigar explains why he chose to make this loan, how it fits into President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle ambitions, and how he deals with the risks of investing in pioneering technologies.

📰 News Highlights

Low tech Magazine: Rebuilding a Solar Powered Website

You’re looking at a completely rebuilt version of the solar powered website, which now allows you to turn off the dithering compression and see the original images.

Inside Climate News: Carbon Credit Market Seizes On a New Opportunity: Plugging Oil and Gas Wells

A wave of new companies are crafting financial incentives to block emissions from wells that are near the end of their life spans—and orphaned wells with no clear owners. Yet doubts persist about project oversight and the ethos of the market.

Drilled News: Enabling Fossil Fuel Addiction: It’s About More Than Money

A new climate case was filed this week. Multnomah County, the Oregon county that includes Portland, filed suit against several oil majors for their role in exacerbating the climate change that led to the county’s “heat dome” in June 2021, which killed 69 people. But the case doesn’t just place blame at the feet of the oil and gas companies, it includes trade group sand the industry’s favorite consulting firm, McKinsey & Company.

MotherJones: California Legislation Would Force Corporate Polluters to Come Clean

The Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act seeks to change that by making corporations—from giant banks like Wells Fargo to private, family-owned companies like In-N-Out Burger—follow the same protocol and account for all the emissions linked to their business. While a lot of companies measure and report at least some of their emissions without any legal requirements, many of them don’t account for all the emissions tied to their products. And they don’t all measure and report emissions in the same way.

Nature: Net-zero pledges are growing — how serious are they?

Governments and companies are committing to cut and counter carbon emissions, but robust strategies to achieve their goals are lacking, according to Net Zero Stocktake 2023, a report compiled by the climate researchers who run the Net Zero Tracker, a collaboration that aims to increase accountability of net-zero pledges. The stocktake focuses on the quality, or integrity, of the measures put in place to achieve the pledges, comparing pledges and progress with the requirements laid out in the UN’s Race to Zero campaign.

Reuters: India to cut daytime power tariffs, raise fees for night use

India will cut tariffs for daytime power use but charge a premium when electricity demand peaks during the night, in a bid to manage surging demand and boost the use of renewable energy. During so-called “solar hours”, tariffs will be 10%-20% less than normal levels, while tariffs during peak night hours when air-conditioning use is cranked up after people come home from work will be 10-20% higher.

CBS News: Solar and wind generated more electricity than coal for record 5 months

Solar and wind power hit a new record this year, generating more U.S. power than coal for the first five months of the year, according to preliminary data from the Energy Information Administration. When hydroelectric power is counted among the renewable mix, that record stretches to over six months, with renewables beating out coal starting last October, according to the EIA.

Canary Media: Americans are about to get their first taste of cultivated meat

Lab-grown meat, once a concept confined to science fiction, is about to become a reality in the United States: Upside Foods and Eat Just, two California-based companies that have been at the forefront of developing the technology, announced this week they had each received final regulatory approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for their chicken.

Carbon Brief: In-depth: How climate change affects health in Africa

Last week, a range of stakeholders – academics from both climate science and health science, as well as policymakers, humanitarian workers and more – gathered at the American Geophysical Union’s headquarters in Washington DC for the Chapman Conference on Climate and Health for Africa. Carbon Brief attended the conference and has captured and summarised key messages from the research community, policymakers and health professionals – as well as directions the group identified for future work.

Loss of fossil fuel assets would not impoverish general public, study finds

A rapid reduction in fossil fuels, essential to avoid devastating climate breakdown, would have minimal financial impact on the vast majority of people, new research has shown. Choice quotes: “two-thirds of the financial losses from lost fossil fuel assets would affect the top 10% of wealth holders, with half of that affecting the top 1%. Any losses would still make up less than 1% of this group’s net wealth”and “compensating all stranded assets of the bottom 50% under medium losses would cost (about) $9 billion in Europe and $12 billion in the United States. (For context, this combined figure is about the same as what Google and Facebook spent on share buybacks in the first quarter of 2023)

The Problem With Fashion’s Sustainability Push: It Doesn’t Make Much Money

Resale has quickly emerged as the initiative of choice for fashion brands looking to lower their carbon, plastic and water footprints—or at least in some instances to convince green-conscious shoppers that they’re trying. But here’s the rub: So far even savvy brands such as Patagonia or Shein haven’t figured out how to make secondhand selling account for more than a tiny fraction of their profits.

💼 Jobs

Remember only jobs listing salary ranges are listed here - [o get your job listed in this newsletter, you need to use the CAT job listing form and include a salary range. There more jobs listed in the# jobs channel

Climate Arc - DevOps / API Developer - GBP 50k - 70k - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok

Climate Arc is building an open data platform to help shifting global finance towards responsible companies. We’re currently looking for someone to help building foundational elements of our platform, including DevOps, automation, monitoring and well as develop API layer exposing our data assets externally.

ICCT - Associate Researcher, Aviation, Berlin - 64K EUR - Permanent - Flexible

The ICCT seeks a highly motivated and committed Associate Researcher for the Aviation Program in Berlin, Germany. This position will support research to identify, refine, and promote policies to reduce the environmental impacts of commercial aviation.

TransitionZero - Software Engineer - £45,000 to £65,000 per annum (depending on experience level) - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok

We are seeking a talented junior or mid-level software engineer with a passion for sustainability, skills and experience writing back-end data services with Python, and a knowledge of Python development to build data handling scripts, API routes, data models, schemas, migrations, and containerised jobs and services. You will be working on The Future Energy Outlook, an open-source data and modelling platform that aims to make energy systems analysis auditable, accountable, and reproducible, and TransitionZero’s new flagship product.

Vayda - Fractional Engineering Lead - $100-200/hr depending on experience - Contract - Flexible - remote ok

Hi everyone! We are hiring our first Eng Leader on a fractional basis to drive development of a data-centric product in the regenerative agriculture and climate space, building off of the company’s direct knowledge and experience in regenerative farm operations. The company is a Series A startup backed directly by institutional investors (lead: Ontario Teachers Pension Plan).

David Energy - Customer Support Lead - $90,000 - $120,000 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok

David Energy is a new kind of power company. One that’s better for customers and for the planet. We’re on a mission to transform the electrical grid with 24/7 clean, renewable energy – and give customers greater transparency and control while we do it.

We are seeking a passionate and strategic Customer Support Lead to own our support experience for our residential customers. You’ll be equal parts strategic leader and tactical executor — taking charge of implementing new tooling, improving processes, and streamlining collaboration. This position is critical to our mission and is an incredible opportunity to contribute to a fast-paced, high growth startup in the energy sector. If you enjoy working on complex problems, excel at creating delightful experiences, and have a knack for elegant solutions and scalable processes, we’d love to connect with you.