July 9, 2023

🌍 CAT Newsletter #178 - 2023-07-09

CAT 178 - 2023-07-09

Hey CATs,

Welcome to issue 178 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

#️⃣ Slack highlights

• #2-global-dialogue: James replied to our question: If you could ask a climate genie for three wishes – one for the world, one for the digital tech industry, one for your local community – what would they be? Share your answer

• #greener-design: Alja shared an article with various sustainable design resources.

• #greener-marketing: Owen is reflecting on the state of social media platforms and is wondering how you have changed your social media strategy this year? Share your answer

📆 CAT events

Last Tuesday CATs met for a watch party on How Airships Could Overcome a Century of Failure. After seeing the video, we reflected on how the companies presenting in the video are mainly thinking about business (extraction & luxury) as an application for this tech which to us didn’t feel great. Might airships create more problems than they solve? See more notes here. Or watch the video and share your thoughts in the thread.

Upcoming events

📍 Wed, Jul 12 · #local-austria: Meetup in Vienna

👋 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 21! 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.

⚠️ This will be the match before we take a summer break. Channel host Brett will share more in the #cat-roulette channel.

✋ Looking for volunteers

📚 Host a summer book club • 5h (one-off)
If you want to not just read ‘How to blow up a pipeline’ this summer but help host a one-off CAT book club event, let us know in this thread.

📆 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.

Thu Jul 13 2023 - Time Shifting Business Processes - Carbon Aware BPM

Using the Camunda Carbon Reductor, we do Carbon Aware Process Execution. We try to make the business process more sustainable by optimizing runtimes. We use predictions about the grid intensity to shift subsequent tasks - all while taking into account existing SLAs.

Tue Jul 18 2023 - Green tech fireside chat with Dale Vince

Join us for an informal fireside chat with the pioneering Dale Vince, Green Industrialist and Founder of Ecotricity. As this is a hybrid event you can choose to join in person (Bristol, UK) or online. All welcome!

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.

Should nature have a price tag on its ecosystem services?

What services does nature provide for free and how much are they worth in cash terms? Green economists say we need to put a price tag on trees and bees in order to save them, but how? And is it really such a good idea?

🎤 Podcasts

Environment Variables: We Answer Your Questions!

On this episode of Environment Variables, host Chris Adams is joined by Asim Hussain as they dive into a mailbag session, bringing you the most burning unanswered questions from the recent live virtual event on World Environment Day that was hosted by the Green Software Foundation on June 5 2023. Asim and Chris tackle your questions on the environmental impact of AI computation, the challenges of location shifting, the importance of low-carbon modes, and keeping up with Jevons Paradox.

Outrage and Optimism 207: Five Times Faster

Our interview this week is with Simon Sharpe, Director of Economics for the UNFCCC Climate Champions, Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute and author of Five Times Faster. In conversation with Christiana and Tom, Simon discusses how we can accelerate climate action, why we need to ​​decarbonise the global economy five times faster than we have managed so far, and why some of the real blocks to achieving this could be the very ideas and institutions that are supposed to be helping us.

The Chinese activist who mapped the country's pollution problem

China is the world’s factory, and has the emissions to match. Today’s guest, Ma Jun, began publishing “Pollution Maps” online in 2006 that detailed levels and sources of air and water pollution, and his work has made it possible for people in China to discuss pollution and climate change in a serious way. He joins Akshat in New York for a conversation about the power that data can have, how environmentalism has changed in China, and the role the rest of the world must play in asking questions.

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

📰 News Highlights

Yale Climate Connection: The world just broke a stunning slew of heat records. Why right now?

What’s happened in recent weeks to turn the drip-drip-drip of climate warming into a full-on torrent? Below is a look at several of the most prominent global and regional records and some of the factors that may be leading to the recent spikes.

Heatmap: How E-Bikes Became the Coolest Thing on the Road

A fun piece about the myriad new design directions that e-bikes around the world are taking, from Indonesia, to Sweden, to California.

Team Magazine: From Barcelona to the world - How a student occupation changed university policy

From 2024 the University of Barcelona will administer a course to all its 14,000 students and become one of the first educational institutions to make a compulsory class on the physical and social effects of the climate crisis. This came about as a result of a student occupation in the university calling for action in November. An interview with Elena, Lorenzo, Felipe and their fellow students, behind the action.

Fairphone 4—the repairable, sustainable smartphone—is coming to the US

Fairphone is a unique Android manufacturer; it offers a smartphone designed for repair, long software support times, and a selection of parts available online. The Dutch electronics manufacturer has mostly only focused on the European market and says, "When is Fairphone coming to the US?" is one of the most common questions it gets asked. Well, ask no more! The company is finally bringing the Fairphone 4 to the US—with some caveats.

BBC: The climate change-denying TikTok post that won't go away

Earlier this year, TikTok vowed to clamp down on climate change denial. But a BBC investigation tracked one video that has been viewed millions of times - and found the company is struggling to stop false climate information from spreading across the platform.

Reuters: EU to propose exit from Energy Charter Treaty over climate concerns

The European Commission is readying a proposal for EU countries to jointly quit an international energy treaty, after some governments already pledged to leave over climate concerns. The 1998 Energy Charter Treaty lets energy companies sue governments over policies that damage their investments, and in recent years has been used to challenge policies that require fossil fuel plants to shut, raising concerns in some European capitals that it is an obstacle to addressing climate change.

Data Centre Dynamics: Germany to pass Energy Efficiency Act, demanding heat reuse in data centers, and jumps in renewable energy use

In 2022, the first draft demanded all new data centers ensure that 30 percent of their waste heat be used by other organizations from 2024, and 40 percent from 2027, and requires facilities to use 50 percent renewable energy by 2024, and 100 percent by 2027. The Energy Efficiency Act will now be debated in September.

The Guardian: Future of deep-sea mining hangs in balance as opposition grows

Ireland and Sweden join countries calling for moratorium on extraction of metals from seabed as UN-backed authority prepares for crucial talks. The list of countries calling for a pause on deep-sea mining continued to grow this week ahead of a key moment that mining companies hope will launch the fledgling industry, and its opponents hope could clip its wings, perhaps for good.

The Register: Five billion phones are dead in drawers – carriers want to mine them

The GSM Association (GSMA) and a dozen carriers have announced a plan to make a modest dent in the number of mobile phones that languish, unused, unloved, and unrecycled. The consortium proclaimed on Tuesday that five billion mobile phones are "currently sitting unused and unloved in desk drawers around the globe" and asserted that their innards contain 50,000 tonnes of copper, 500 tonnes of silver and 100 tonnes of gold. There's also enough cobalt to build batteries for ten million electric vehicles.

Climate Tech VC: Macro market freeze chills climate tech: Venture funding down 40% in H1 2023

Was the climate tech VC frenzy a peak or is it a wave? As venture capital funding falls across the startup landscape, the dollars flowing into climate tech companies dropped ~40% in the first half of 2023. interesting summary of recent trends in Climate Tech investment, showing where the money is still going.

Sylvera: The VCMI Claims Code of Practice explainer

Today the VCMI launched their Claims Code of Practice. This is new guidance on how companies can use credits in alignment with net zero targets. If you haven’t got time to read all 44 pages, here’s what you need to know.

The IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) announced today the official launch of its new global sustainability and climate disclosure standards, expected to form the basis for emerging sustainability reporting requirements by regulators around the world, and marking a major step towards the integration of sustainability reporting into the broader financial reporting process. The new standards will begin applying for annual reporting periods beginning as of January 2024, with companies beginning to issue disclosures against the standards in 2025.

💼 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.

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. 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.

Cercula - Software Developer - Up to £55,000 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok

Cercula is an award-winning construction tech & sustainability startup, working towards the decarbonisation of the construction industry. In short, we take a list of materials for a construction project, match each one in our database of materials carbon data, and produce a report on the building's whole-life carbon impact. We're looking for experienced developers to work on our API and databases, at the core of Cercula's business, as well as on our user-facing front-end and AWS deployment. Our stack is primarily TypeScript and Postgres on AWS (including serverless). If you are interested in social and climate change, and want to contribute to solving major environmental problems by decarbonising a high-impact industry, please reach out!

Elemental Excelerator - Portfolio Innovation Manager - $73,000 - $119,000 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok

Elemental is looking for a highly collaborative, organized, and experienced individual to work with our Portfolio Team, assisting with the recruitment, diligence, and management of Elemental’s energy portfolio companies. For this position, we are looking for an individual who can design projects, manage deliverables and reporting, provide thought partnership on portfolio company strategy, and work with the Directors of Innovation across sectors and organization functions.

Elemental Excelerator - Creative Intern - $25 per hour - Internship - Totally remote

In this role, you will support the team on photo and creative asset organization, in addition to helping to brainstorm new ways to share the Elemental story! This is a highly creative and flexible team within the organization that will ultimately be expected to deliver creative assets for our organization.

Monthly CAT thank you

📝 For adding knowledge to Outline: @mrchrisadams @Elisa @melissa

💰 For supporting us financially on Open Collective: @Poppe Guthrie @Mike Gifford (CivicActions) @Thibaud Colas @Michael Napper @Michelle Barker @James Crowley @fershad @Todd Zmijewski @Chris Pointon @Jeff Burka @asim @HeatherB @Nic Wistreich and all you lovely anonymous CATs

❤️  For volunteering within the community: @Hannah @roundcrisis @Siôn @Brett Duboff @Elisa @Łukasz Mastalerz @Claire Thornewill @Owen Rogers @Tom Kennes @Aïda @Caroline Schneider @Nat Darke @Clare Tomassian (she/her) @Ben Tongue @Dan @Matt Sirkis @Gaël Duez @Evan Hahn @Alja Isaković
For volunteering on our cross-community #climate-justice programs: @Marlo @Richard Kim @Yang Hong (she/her)