December 3, 2023

🌍 CAT Newsletter #198 - 2023-12-03

CAT 198 - 2023-12-03

Hey CATs,

Welcome to issue 198 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

😌 Year in review

With only about 5 weeks to go we’re nearing the end of 2023! If you’re curious about what happened this year at CAT, check out our 2023 - year in review presentation. And you can still add your project / action / win / stuff you learned at CAT to our CAT member PAWS presentation. Plus our member survey is open again, so please take 5-10mins to share your thoughts on the community.

🌱 New Branch Issue 7 has dropped!

Just in time before the end of year, issue 7 of Branch Magazine, the magazine for people who dream of a Sustainable Internet is out!

You can see the new issue at https://branch.climateaction.tech

#️⃣ Slack channel highlights

• #greener-design: M started a discussion about planet centric design in this thread.

• #greener-webdev: J shared an emission-saving idea about using an intersection observer to stop a video playing when it scrolls out of view in this thread.

📅 CAT events for the rest of the year

📋  Thu, Dec 7 - Americas, Europe, Africa: How to become a climate-conscious Product Manager? with @François Burra

❄️ Tue, Dec 12 (in-person) - London, UK: Climate Community Winter Party Other in-person events were shared / are being planned in #local-aotearoa and #local-spain

🎉 Thu, Dec 14 - Americas, Europe, Africa: CAT 2023 – year in review and celebration (share your 2023 project/win/action here)

Ilaria is proposing a new CAT event around the future of digital identity! Show your interest by filling out this form.

🍩 Community networking

Our next round of #cat-roulette matches will go out on Fri, Dec 8! Join the channel, pick your region and Donut matches you with other channel members every other week! More info

🌱 A cutting from Branch

Issue 7 - Gentle Dismantlings: Letter from the Editors

If there is one word we could use to describe the current task of facing ecological destruction in ways that enable the survival of our species along with the six million others who dwell alongside us, perhaps that word should be redefinition.

🎬 CAT videos

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

Planet A: How offices can help the housing crisis — and the planet

Many offices are sitting empty following the rise of working from home, while cities around the world face housing crises. Building new housing is extremely carbon intensive. Could converting unused offices into housing help solve both problems?

✋ Looking for volunteers

📆 CAT online event volunteer • minimum 2hrs / month

Help organise and/or run our online events. You can sign up to do this for just a few months or stick around for longer.

📆 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.

Mon Dec 04 2023 - SOSV Sustainable Industry Matchup

A large virtual matchmaking event for startups and investors

Tue Dec 05 2023 - DIMPACT - measuring emissions from media and digital entertainment

Green Tech South West presents an online event showcasing the work of DIMPACT, with Catherine Van Loo from Carnstone consultancy. The DIMPACT tool estimates the emissions associated with video streaming, online banner advertising, digital publishing, and audio streaming.

Wed Dec 06 2023 - What is digital sustainability?

What is digital sustainability? Why does it matter? And how can we make a difference in our role or organisation? Join us and our panellists to discuss how we can all work towards digital sustainability through policy, principles, process and practice.

Thu Dec 07 2023 - #GovClimate Show and Tell

Short show and tells with Q&As from people acting on climate change within their public sector roles.

Thu Dec 07 2023 - Exploring Satellites / SpaceTech

In December, Working in Sustainable Technology are exploring how developments in satellites and broader space technology are aiding in understanding climate change and further positively impacting our planet.

Speakers: Mark Stokes (Magdrive) and Charlie Bunce (Trade in Space)💫

Fri Dec 08 2023 - Green IO Conference Paris

Your go-to place for decarbonizing your tech stack. Great hopes have been placed in ICT to support our transition towards a low-carbon economy. But, our digital sector also emits a lot of GHG. Let’s make sure we manage to clean our own house while saving the world!

Sat Dec 09 2023 - In person Digital Collage - North London

The Digital Collage is a playful and collaborative workshop. Its aim is to raise awareness and train participants on the environmental issues of digital technologies.

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

🎤 Podcasts

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

Zero: Outrage and optimism in oil country

Christiana Figueres is the cohost of the podcast Outrage & Optimism, and was formerly the head of the UNFCCC, the body tasked with running COP meetings. She took over the role at a low point in global climate negotiations in 2010 and her efforts culminated in the signing of the Paris agreement in 2015. So we wanted to hear from Christiana about what can be expected from COP28, the role the fossil fuel industry plays in negotiations, and whether the climate summit is still fit for purpose.

Catalyst with Shayle Khan: EV charging on both sides of the pond

For those in the U.S., Europe’s strong electric vehicle market might offer a glimpse into the future of EV charging. And Europe does indeed have a lot to teach the U.S. — but it turns out the lessons might actually go both ways. In this episode, Shayle talks to Nick Woolley, CEO and co-founder of charging management company ev.energy, which operates in both the U.S. and Europe.

Volts: Checking in on solar power

In this episode, longtime solar industry analyst Jenny Chase, author of Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon, catches us up on the current state of the global solar industry and looks to where it’s going.

Wicked Problems: COP28 & RMI's Cara Maesano on Carbon Removal Pathways

As things heat up at COP28 in Dubai, and world leaders discuss how to agree to stop putting carbon dioxide up into the atmosphere, what do we do with the 1000 Gigatons of CO2 we’ve already stuck up there?

📰 News Highlights

Canary Media: In a first, a major airline will cross the Atlantic without fossil fuels

Virgin Atlantic will use 100% sustainable aviation fuel on a flight from London to New York. It’s an important step toward slashing emissions from planes. The flight will last about eight hours, span around 3,500 miles — and emit only a fraction of the planet-warming gases associated with a typical transatlantic flight.

Carbon Brief: How colonial rule radically shifts historical responsibility for climate change

Historical responsibility for climate change is radically shifted when colonial rule is taken into account, Carbon Brief analysis reveals. The first-of-its-kind analysis offers a thought-provoking fresh perspective on questions of climate justice and historical responsibility, which lie at the heart of the global climate debate. (see also, the 1 minute long interactive timeline)

BBC: UAE planned to use climate talks to make oil deals at COP28

The United Arab Emirates planned to use its role as the host of UN climate talks as an opportunity to strike oil and gas deals, the BBC has learned. Leaked briefing documents reveal plans to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 nations. The UN body responsible for the COP28 summit told the BBC hosts were expected to act without bias or self-interest.

Heatmap.news: A Climate Reparations Breakthrough at COP28

World leaders at the United Nations’ annual climate summit secured an early agreement on Thursday for a disaster fund that will help vulnerable nations dealing with drought, floods, or other costly damage caused by climate change. Several countries pledged contributions to the disaster fund following its formal approval at COP28, including this year’s host country, the United Arab Emirates, which put up $100 million. Other pledges include $100 million from Germany, $51 million from Britain, $17.5 million from the U.S., and $10 million from Japan.

BBC: The T-shirt chewing enzyme ready to tackle plastic waste

An enzyme used by microbes break down the waxy coating of leaves, has been repurposed to process plastic - and is now so efficient that it can completely break the PET polymer down to its constituent monomers - the chemicals producers need to make new plastic. The company is now about to radically scale up operations. By 2025 the plan is to open a factory in northeast France that will be able to recycle 50,000 tonnes of PET waste a year - that's 300 million T-shirts, or two billion bottles.

MIT Technology Review: Making an image with generative AI uses as much energy as charging your phone

Each time you use AI to generate an image, write an email, or ask a chatbot a question, it comes at a cost to the planet. In fact, generating an image using a powerful AI model takes as much energy as fully charging your smartphone, according to a new study by researchers at the AI startup Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University. However, they found that using an AI model to generate text is significantly less energy-intensive. The work shows that while training massive AI models is incredibly energy intensive, it’s only one part of the puzzle. Most of their carbon footprint comes from their actual use.  See also - the link to the paper behind the story.

The Conversation: Sails and satellite navigation could cut shipping industry’s emissions by up to a third

In the vast expanse of the world’s oceans, a transformation is underway. But with low-carbon fuel pipelines unlikely to be available at the necessary scale until at least the 2030s, how can the industry meet its short-term target? Enter a new solution with ancient origins: sails. Not the billowing canvases of centuries past but high-tech systems capable of harnessing renewable wind energy to supplement the propulsion from a ship’s engine.

The Guardian: US coal power plants killed at least 460,000 people in past 20 years – report

Henneman led a group of researchers who used publicly available data to track air pollution – and its health effects – from the 480 US coal power plants that operated at some point between 1999 and 2020. A model was used to track the wind direction and reach of the toxins from each power station. Annual exposure levels were then connected with more than 650m Medicare health records that covered most people over age 65 in the US. About 85% of the total 460,000 coal plant-related deaths occurred between 1999 and 2007, an average of more than 43,000 deaths per year. The death toll declined drastically as plants closed or were updated to comply with new environmental rules. By 2020, the coal PM2.5 death toll had dropped 95%.

The Green Web Foundation: Notes from the SDIA Green Coding Summit

Earlier this month the SDIA Green Coding Summit took place in Berlin. A few years back, the idea of a mainstream conference dedicated to Digital Sustainability, that had a mix of techies AND people who work in other vital areas, like policy, procurement and campaigning organisations – would be little more than wishful thinking. So it’s a measure of how quickly the field is developing, that in 2023, in the 3rd largest economy in the world, you have an event that a) essentially was this and b) was seen as important enough that the same country’s government sent along their state secretary to deliver an opening keynote to outline why this topic matters. Green Web Fdn exec director shares his takeaways from the event.

💼 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.

RouteZero - Full-stack software engineer - £30-35k - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok

RouteZero is hiring a full-stack developer (Flutter and Typescript). We’re decarbonising our customer’s largest source of emissions: travel. We aim to prevent millions of tonnes of CO₂ entering the atmosphere by helping customers deploy the most effective carbon-cutting actions, from low-carbon travel booking to carbon budgets and social influence tools.

Elemental Excelerator - Portfolio Experience Analyst - $54,600 - $85,400 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok

This role will be responsible for activating our community of engaged founders through the development of program communications, founder tools, newsletters, and general outreach, as well as supporting the organization and execution of portfolio-facing events and Elemental’s accelerator program tracks. This is a dynamic position that works both cross-collaboratively within the organization to provide transparency across portfolio team initiatives, and directly with companies to help them scale and make a positive impact.

Elemental Excelerator - Policy Lab Senior Operations Manager - $86,500-$140,100/year - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok

Elemental is seeking a passionate self-starter to serve as a Policy Lab Senior Operations. This position will report to Elemental’s Managing Director, Policy and support our work and systems to help Elemental’s portfolio companies and key policy leaders scale climate solutions with deep community impact. The role will also work closely with our Senior Policy Advisor who leads our Policy Fellows program and with our Senior Manager of Portfolio Experience who supervises coaching and other supports for our portfolio companies. The role requires excellent collaboration skills, strong workflow management, strong execution and attention to detail, and ability to create and maintain systems that assess key trends and data to enable innovation and impact in our team’s work.

Elemental Excelerator - Developer in Residence - The starting hourly rate for this opportunity is $150/hr. - Contract - Flexible - remote ok

Elemental is seeking a Developer in Residence to join our team and support our portfolio of climate tech entrepreneurs as they navigate the complexities of deploying a first-of-a-kind (FOAK) or early commercial climate tech project. In addition to bringing your expertise as a project developer to 1:1 and group work with our portfolio companies, you will serve as a thought partner to Elemental as we work to develop and build out more support offerings for our portfolio, including a roster of specialized project developers to support their journey.

Ford Foundation - Technology Fellow - 117k - 136k USD - Permanent - Onsite only

Ford Foundation's Natural Resources and Climate Change International (NRCC-I) team is hiring a Technology Fellow to join their team. The Tech Fellow will integrate into the NRCC team on a two-year contract, , and will also be a part of the broader Technology Fellowship Program, which was created to support integrated learning and action at the intersection of social justice and technology throughout the work of the foundation.