🌍 CAT Newsletter #201 - 2023-01-07
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 201 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.
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Stay safe & healthy 😌 💚 🐱
CAT Community News
This is the first newsletter of the year!
💗 201 RESOURCE CREATED
We organise a bunch of activities inside CAT, as well as actively moderating the space to keep it welcoming and supportive. At the end of last year, we ran a mini-fund raiser in celebration of hitting our 200th issue. A huge thank you to the following CATS who donated in December to help fund community activities in 2024:
@Michael Napper, @Poppe Guthrie, @Thibaud Colas, @Mike Gifford (CivicActions), @fershad, @Todd , @Chris Pointon, @James Crowley, @asim, @Jeff Burka, @HeatherB and all you lovely anonymous supporters
You can join other CATs by making fast, convenient donation via Open Collective.
📝 From the blog
If you missed it last year, you can see CAT's 2023 Year in view on the community blog.
🌱 A cutting from Branch
Branch issue 7: Gathering Multitudes: A Bag of Stars
Gathering Multitudes: A bag of stars is an interactive 3D essay, encouraging players exploring a game-world to imagine spaces such as seed banks as a metaphor for digital servers and to contribute their own visions for the same.
🎬 CAT Videos
CAT videos, geddit? 10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
Planet A - Biochar: How burning stubble could FIGHT air pollution
It's supposed to suck carbon out of the air, reduce air pollution and even generate energy. Biochar is produced by burning stubble, wood and other biomass and could help us solve many problems. But does it live up to the hype?
🐈 Tell us what you'd like to see more of
Our member survey is open! Please spend 5-7 minutes and share your thoughts about CAT.
CAT Submitted Events
Thu Jan 11 2024 - Sustainable Battery Production and Recycling
This month Working in Sustainable Technology are exploring the various streams of sustainability in batteries. From manufacture, to recycling and storage for energy.
- 💫Speaker 1: Ola Hekselman from Solveteq
- 💫Speaker 2: TBA
🎤 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: We are closing in on zero-carbon cement
The cement industry, responsible for roughly 8 percent of total global carbon emissions, is notoriously difficult to decarbonize. But a new startup, Sublime Systems, aims to manufacture zero-carbon cement that can easily be substituted for the traditional version. In this episode, Sublime CEO Leah Ellis talks through the company’s vision and process. (Editor's note: this episode is nerdy AF, but if you have any interest in chemistry, it's loads of fun! A++)
Zero: Our favorite climate numbers #3
Are fossil fuel companies needed in a clean energy future? Is the UK really backsliding on climate progress? And how can you find out more about solar? In the last episode of Zero before enter 2024, host Akshat Rathi and producers Oscar Boyd and Christine Driscoll talk about some of their favorite statistics that show people taking action on the climate crisis.
Carbon copy: LNG exports: America’s hidden ‘climate bomb
If growth continues, U.S. emissions from LNG exports could rival emissions from the continent of Europe. Bill McKibben and other guests discuss.
Environment Variables - Greening the Front End
TWiGS host Chris Adams is joined by guest Savannah Goodman from Google, to bring you the latest news and updates from the world of sustainable software development. They discuss insights from Google’s Sustainability report, the need for a fossil fuel free internet by 2030 and the importance of microgrids and nanogrids.
The Exponential View Podcast: The horizon for 2024: AI & energy
Every year, I provide an outlook for the year ahead to help you set expectations in ways that are helpful for the Exponential Age. I wrote a book about this era in 2021, and this newsletter is a weekly practice of analysis and understanding what is going on. This is the first part of my analysis of the horizon for 2024 and the things you need to care about
Greenio: #30 - Can Digital Marketing be low-carbon? with Audrey Danthony and Diarmuid Gill
0.9g of CO2e. It’s pretty ridiculous when you think about it. According, the French SRI association this is the carbon footprint for a 10K prints digital campaign with a 200k image. So not a big deal? Not that simple because we’re talking about volumes in trillions per day here. So maybe it’s a good idea to dive a little deeper on the environmental impact of digital marketing after all.
📰 News Highlights
The Climate Lawsuit Three Presidents Tried to Kill Is Finally Going to Court
"The judiciary is capable and duty-bound to provide redress for the irreparable harm government fossil fuel promotion has caused.”"
In the last days of 2023, Judge Ann Aiken of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon ended an argument that had lasted eight years and three presidential administrations. Juliana v. United States, a groundbreaking climate case filed by a group of twenty one young plaintiffs in federal court, could finally go to trial.
Climate Tech VC: 🌏 Climatetech Investment trends 2023
"looking forward, interest rates are expected to come down, rules around policy incentives and regulation are emerging, and international competition has become a driving force for climate tech. 2024 is looking to be a critical year as climate tech continues its journey from the lab to large scale deployment."
Canary Media: Chart: Coal-fired electricity may have peaked in 2023
The global energy mix is rapidly shifting away from the dirtiest fossil fuel and toward renewables, but the change is not everywhere — or fast enough.
Grist: A huge EV factory is coming to west Tennessee. Here’s how locals are ensuring they benefit
How communities are using an organizing tool intended for sports stadiums to bargain with energy transition projects for labor standards and affordable housing.
BBC: World's tallest wooden wind turbine starts turning
What is made from the same wood as a Christmas tree, held together by glue and manufactured in a Swedish factory for assembly later? If that calls to mind flat-pack furniture and meatballs, you're wrong. If you answered "a wooden wind turbine", you could be a visionary. According to Modvion, the Swedish start-up that has just built the world's tallest wooden turbine tower, using wood for wind power is the future.
Fershad: Adapting Cloud Carbon Footprint's methodology to website carbon estimates
In this post I will look at an possible alternative approach to calculating the emissions of the server (data center/hosting) segment in website carbon calculations. I hope that this can be the first in a series of posts where I lay out possible alternate approaches to estimating emissions for each segment in website carbon calculations
Green Web Foundation: Meet our Green Web Fellows 2024
We are more than excited to announce our new Green Web Fellowship cohort 2024. After reviewing nearly 4500 (!) applications, interviewing finalists and consulting the advisory committee, our five new fellows are ready to work on the intersection of digital rights and climate justice for the next six months.
💼 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.
The Nature Conservancy - Agile Team Coach - $88,300 - $132,500 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
At The Nature Conservancy, "Alongside communities, we’re urgently clearing obstacles and finding solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises...To make the highest possible impact on the climate and biodiversity crises between now and 2030, we’re developing breakthrough ideas, amplifying local leaders and influencing policy." This position is with the IT department in the Worldwide Office. IT teams this position will support develop and maintain systems for data analytics and tracking, membership efforts, geospatial systems, and more.
Supercritical - Director of Climate Science - £110k - £130k (depending on experience) - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
You will play a pivotal role in driving innovation in climate vetting methodologies and frameworks for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) methods. They execute rigorous climate vetting for potential projects, ensuring a robust evaluation process. Additionally, the role involves spearheading Supercritical's position on CDR, carbon markets, and climate policy. As the voice of climate within the management team, the Climate Strategy Lead actively shapes strategic development, acts as a spokesperson, and produces influential thought leadership content to elevate the organization's profile. The role also entails providing technical excellence to support sales and marketing, enhancing the quality of customer offerings. In overseeing small corporate climate consultancy projects, the lead manages emission measurement and guides net-zero transition planning for clients, ensuring a comprehensive and effective approach.