CAT Newsletter 217 - 2024-04-28
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 217 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
💰 Mini grants
We've got some updates on our ongoing projects:
- Sustainable AI manifesto: @abhishek is done with research on current best practices in Sustainable AI through academic literature and technical tooling and his next milestone is to design a landing page to collect responses and generate engagement with relevant communities. Reach out if you want to get involved.
- "How to become a Climate-Conscious Product Manager" case studies and CAT conference: @François Burra and @Antoine Cabot are in their research and data collection phase. @François Burra also talked about the work in a recent episode of @Gaël Duez's Green I/O podcast.
And we're kicking off our next round of mini grants with a new funded project: @Andy Mossop @Fiona Leibundgut @ken iseli @Panu Kärävä and @Christian Abegg are organising a #local-switzerland hackathon in May and the grant will help fund part of this event. Reach out to anyone in the group to learn more and get involved.
More about mini grants | Apply for a grant (next evaluation is in June)
#️⃣ Slack channel highlights
#greener-design: C shared the UK Design Council's Design Economy Report 2021-24 which talks about a Green Design Skills Gap and A shared an article with a good introduction about the environmental costs of AI and the role designers might play.
#greener-marketing: O shared an article about "greenhushing" - where companies are reluctant to talk about their eco-credentials for fear of increased scrutiny and backlash.
#greener-webdev: A while ago M, O, I and M had a good conversation about spheres of influence.
🧠 Knowledge base deep dive
WordPress optimization: With WordPress powering nearly half of websites on the internet, it's worth visiting this page in the Greener WebDev collection to help you green your WP installation and practice. Log into the CAT knowledge base with your CAT Slack account to explore existing optimization recommendations and help a fellow CAT learn something new by adding your own tips.
📅 CAT events
Wed, May 1 - Amsterdam [in person]: @Jenny D is trying to coordinate a #local-netherlands meetup (more info)
Fri, May 17 - Zurich [in person]: Zurich hackathon (more info)
Tue, May 21 - Vienna [in person]: CAT meetup
Other local events were shared in #local-boston #local-california #local-chicago #local-netherlands #local-san-francisco-bay-area
🍩 Community networking
Get to know other CATs and make some friends in the community. Every 2 weeks, we match 2-3 CATs so you can connect over a quick 30-minute call. Simply join #cat-roulette, pick your region and wait for a message from Donut about your match! Our next round of matches will go out on Fri, May 10. More info
Media, events, and news
😺 CAT recommendations
🌱 A cutting from Branch
Branch Issue 8 is out!
Issue 8 of Branch, the online magazine written by and for people who dream of a sustainable and just internet for all, is finally out! Full of writing by CATs, for CATs, it covers the intersection of technology and climate justice, and with the theme "Finding beauty in the imperfect".
Read the letter from the editors, Hannah Smith of the Green Web Foundation and Marketa Benisek of Wholegrain Digital for a preview, or just dive into any of the other 22 new pieces.
▶️ CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
Planet A: Is Saudi Arabia really quitting oil?
Saudi Arabia has ambitious green energy goals, aiming to go carbon neutral by 2060. But what does that mean for their fossil-fuel production? Well, is Kingdom is aiming to have its cake and eat it too? We find out.
🎤 Podcasts
The latest climate-related podcast episodes. Don't forget, if you're looking around, there's a list of podcasts maintained by CATs
Outrage and Optimism 242. Xiye Bastida: Her Story of Nature (Earth Day Special)
To mark Earth Day, Christiana shares her conversation with the incredible young climate justice activist, indigenous rights advocate and author Xiye Bastida.
Since 2019, Xiye has been actively involved in organising climate strikes with Fridays For Future, including for their largest youth-led march in New York City. In her role as Co-founder and Executive Director of Re-Earth Initiative, Xiye supports frontline youth across 27 countries, whilst also studying for an Environmental Studies degree with a concentration in Policy and a Minor in Latin American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
This episode is the full, unedited version of a conversation recorded for the recent mini series Our Story of Nature - From Rupture to Reconnection, co-hosted by Christiana Figueres and Isabel Cavelier. This is a wonderful and moving insight into Xiye's story of nature, on how to slow down, and how we might keep past and future generations in our minds - and hearts. We hope you enjoy it!
Shift Key: The EPA's Carbon Crackdown Is Finally Here
ne of the most important pieces of the Biden administration's climate policy has arrived: On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency issued new rules restricting climate pollution from coal-fired plants and natural gas plants that haven't been built yet. The rules will eliminate more than a billion tons of greenhouse gas pollution by the middle of the century.
They are the long-awaited "stick" in the Biden administration's carrots-and-sticks climate policy. So how do the rules work? And is this the end of coal in America?
Environment Variables: Building Green Software
In this episode of Environment Variables, host Chris Adams introduces the co-authors of Building Green Software - Anne, Sara, and Sarah. Through candid discussions, they explore the process of writing about green software development and highlight key insights gained along the way, touching on the interconnectedness between sustainability and existing best practices in software engineering, and the lessons learnt writing the newest O'reilly book on green software.
Green IO #37 - How to be a climate-conscious product manager with Antonia Landi and François Burra
In product management, there is a strong culture of adapting to change, testing, and rapid learning. How can product leaders include climate considerations into the build and run of digital services and scale sustainable practices? In this episode, Gael interviews two hands-on experts and daily practitioners in product management on how to become a climate-conscious PMs. Antonia Landi, based in Germany, is a strong voice in ProductOps, and François Burra, based in Canada, is the co-author of the Climate Product Management Playbook
📅 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 May 16 2024 - Climate Action Week Sydney - Does Cloud Co$t the Earth?
"Does Cloud Cost the Earth?", Every decision in the cloud has a 'cost, an economic cost, and an environmental cost. We're asking if decision making is costing businesses and the planet more than it should. Is it the technology or is it the way we are using it?
Thu May 16 2024 - Building a Climate Action Habit Into a Busy Life
Whether you're at the start of your climate and nature journey, or you've been taking action for a while but feel in a bit of a rut, this session will leave you feeling energised and ready to be part of building a better world. Use code CAT for a free ticket.
Fri May 17 2024 - Climate Solutions Intensive — A two-day deep dive into strategy, scenarios, and systems thinking (California)
The course delves into climate solutions, impacts, and system structures. Gain clarity on high-leverage actions you or your team can take to address the climate and equity challenges, using En-ROADS—a global simulator Climate Interactive co-developed with MIT
📰 News Highlights
Carbon Brief: Analysis - Fossil fuels fall to record-low 2.4% of British electricity
The share of electricity in Great Britain generated from burning coal and gas fell to a record-low 2.4% earlier this month, Carbon Brief analysis shows The findings show that National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) is closing in on its target of running the country's electricity network without fossil fuels, for short periods, by 2025. However, Carbon Brief's analysis also illustrates some of the challenges to meeting the government's target of a fully decarbonised electricity grid by 2035.
Grist: The American Climate Corps is now hiring
The Biden administration aims to sign up 20,000 people in the program's first year. President Joe Biden declared that the program was open for applications on Monday with 273 jobs currently listed on the White House's website, including coastal conservation in Florida, stream restoration in Montana, and forest management in the Sierra Nevada. The administration said the number of openings will soon reach 2,000, with positions spanning 36 states plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
"You'll get paid to fight climate change, learning how to install those solar panels, fight wildfires, rebuild wetlands, weatherize homes, and so much more,"
See also: some insightful analysis by Alberto Cottica, of the UNDP Accellerator Labs.
NPR: How do you build without over polluting? That's the challenge of new Catan board game
In the original version of the popular board game Settlers of Catan, players start on an undeveloped island and are encouraged to "fulfill your manifest destiny." To win you have to collect resources and develop, claiming land by building settlements, cities, and roads.
A new version of the board game, Catan: New Energies, introduces a 21st-century twist — pollution. Expand responsibly or lose. In the new version, modern Catan needs energy. To get that energy players have to build power plants, and those plants can run on renewable energy or fossil fuels. Power plants operated on fossil fuels allow you to build faster but also create more pollution. Too much pollution causes catastrophes.
Rest of World: Singapore is banning sales of cars with internal combustion engines from 2030
Singapore has vowed to reduce its land transport emissions to help reach its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Authorities have said they will end sales of new cars with internal combustion engines from 2030, with plans to phase them out entirely by 2040.
Mightbytes: Our Digital Greenwashing Guide
Use this digital greenwashing guide to help you make accurate sustainability claims about digital products, services, and programs while reducing risk as new and emerging legislation takes shape. New regulatory guidance on greenwashing in the European Union (EU) and the United States may change how organizations can talk about their sustainability initiatives. In some cases, failure to make true claims could lead to potential fines or penalties.
How might this impact your digital marketing or digital sustainability efforts? In this post, we dig into the details and share several digital greenwashing examples.
Datacenter Dynamics: Meta and Alphabet's X developing direct air capture systems using data center waste heat
Data center waste heat has been reused for everything from lobster farms to growing eels, and heating swimming pools. But there are those that, like Meta and X, hope to use it to capture carbon. Meta is developing its own direct air capture (DAC) technology that it hopes to scale across its global data center fleet, and At the same time, X Development (the Alphabet subsidiary, not the social media platform) has sought to patent its own data center DAC project. Microsoft has also filed a patent for a "carbon capture system" using data center waste heat.
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.
TransitionZero - Product Manager - £ 44,286.17 - £51,808.55 - Permanent - Onsite only
We are a climate analytics not-for-profit established in 2021. We're building easy to use energy transition modelling software to give governments, businesses and investors the tools to understand and decide how to transition to carbon free energy. The Product Manager will work collaboratively with the Head of Product on the product strategy and roadmap for our energy systems modelling software. A key aspect of the role will be to drive usage of and engagement with the product.
Marble - Founder in Residence, Geothermal - Anywhere - 2.5-3K per month - Contract - Flexible - remote ok
Dive into the geothermal revolution and help unlock clean, sustainable energy for our planet. We're on the hunt for entrepreneurial engineers/scientists from geothermal, oil & gas, or similar sectors. If you're passionate about innovation and ready to explore cutting-edge approaches to power the net zero economy, we want you.
ExpectAI - Full Stack Engineer & Data Scientist - £35-45K, commensurate with experience - Permanent -
Join me in building ExpectAI's climate action platform that enables our customers to find and take profitable decarbonisation actions with confidence
Icebreaker One - Trust Framework Solutions Architect - Up to £500/day - Contract - 3 days/wk until Dec 2024 - Totally remote
Icebreaker One is a UK-headquartered non-profit working to improve data sharing between organisations in order to accelerate the transition to net zero. Inspired by the explosion of financial service innovation brought about by Open Banking, we are applying the same model, known as a Trust Framework, to collaboratively design, govern and operate secure data sharing infrastructure across the economy. The Trust Framework Solutions Architect will help organisations from startups to PLCs understand and participate in these ecosystems from a technical perspective.
Terawatt Infrastructure - Senior Manager, Grants & Incentives - $160,000-$180,000 - Permanent - Onsite only
Looking for someone to lead critical grant and incentive acquisition and execution strategies in the EV space! Terawatt is an EV fleet charging company looking to decarbonize fleet transportation.
The Chancery Lane Project - Principal User Researcher - £60k to £70k - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
The Chancery Lane Project helps organisations reduce emissions using the power of legal contracts. We do this because contracts govern the entire global economy, and changing these contracts is one of the fastest ways of tackling the climate crisis. We're looking for a Principal User Researcher to set the standards for research in the organisation, lead research in the most critical areas of our work and train others to do their own disposable, lightweight research.
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