đ CAT Newsletter 247 - 2024-11-24
CAT 247 - 2024-11-24
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 247 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 đ đ đ±
CAT Community News
đ Get involved
- 2min: Donate to support our community via OpenCollective
- 5min: Add a slide to our CAT member PAWS presentation to share 2024 Projects, Actions, Wins, or Stuff you learned at CAT (PAWS!)
- 20min+:Â Apply for a CAT mini grant in 2025
#ïžâŁ Slack highlights
#2-greener-software: I shared a repository of resources about permacomputing - check it out, contribute, and reply with your thoughts in the thread
#3-questions-and-ideas: A asked whether anyone is using the Sustainability UI checker plugin in Figma. Have you tried it? Share your experience in the thread
âïž From the blog
Read the recap of the đ± practicing session from the CAT Gen AI Exploratorium for some climate action inspiration. In this week's recap, you'll be able to explore different types of pledges CAT explorers made at the intersection of climate and generative AI, as well as tips and resources that can help you commit to your own climate action.
đ§ Knowledge base deepdive
Greener Product: Looking for advice on how to make greener product decisions? Log into the CAT knowledge base with your CAT Slack account to browse links and tips, and help a fellow CAT become a greener product manager by adding your own recommendations.
đ CAT events
If you want to explore the intersection of climate action in tech and generative AI, you can attend the final community discussion as part of the CAT Generative AI Exploratorium on Wed, Nov 27 - Part 4 - đ Reflecting [online]. The Exploratorium events are part of a funded CAT mini grant project run by @Alja IsakoviÄ. Learn more in #gen-ai-exploratorium or on the CAT blog.
Tue, Dec 10 - :tada: CAT 2024 â year in review and celebration [online] | Add to Google Calendar
Local events were shared in #local-australia, #local-chicago, #local-france, and #local-germany.
đ© Community networking
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, Nov 29th. More info
Media, events, and news
đș CAT recommendations
â¶ïž CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
Planet A: The dark secret behind the historic U.S. oil boom
The US is producing more oil than any country ever has, despite pledging to reduce emissions. The promise is that this new oil boom will bring much-needed jobs and cheaper fuel. But for everyday people, the boom has limited benefits and comes with dire consequences.
đ€Â 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: COP29 talks are at an impasse. Brazil is already looking to COP30
It's late into week two of negotiations at COP29, and delegates still appear far from consensus. But plans are already underway for COP30. Next year's climate conference is set to take place in the Belem, Brazil, a gateway to the Amazon rainforest. AndrĂ© CorrĂȘa do Lago, Brazil's Secretary for Climate, Energy and the Environment tells Akshat Rathi that although holding a global summit in Belem poses logistical challenges, the symbolism of the location holds "fantastic political power."Â
Outrage And Optimism 274. COP29: From Billions to Trillions - G20 Calls for Ambition in Climate Finance
This week, our hosts talk about what's been happening - and not happening - in Rio and Baku.
The hosts are joined by Sue Reid, Climate Finance Advisor at Global Optimism who is on the ground in Baku. Together, they discuss what outcomes to expect as negotiators race towards the finish line in the second and final week of COP29.
Green IO #48 - Greening the video game industry with Ben Abraham and Maria Wagner
3 billion gamers worldwide, billions of devices, terabytes of data streamed, the gaming industry comes with pretty big numbers starting with its $455 billion sales in 2023. Is its environmental footprint as big? A new non-profit initiative, the Sustainable Gaming Alliance, is trying to get these numbers right and to equip the industry with the right framework. Its Managing Director, Maria Wagner, and its Research and Standard lead, Dr Benjamin Abraham joined this Green IO episode to fill us in.
Environment Variables - The Week in Green Software, and Wooden Data Centers
This Week in Green Software, host Chris Adams and Asim Hussain, Executive Director of the GSF discuss the latest developments in sustainable software, exploring topics like Microsoft's innovative timber in data centers to reduce embodied carbon, the environmental challenges of generative AI hardware, the interplay between geopolitics and sustainability, and surprising developments in China's approach to sustainable technology.
đ Submitted events
Want an event listed here? Use this event listing form to submit the details so we can add it in the newsletter.
Wed Nov 27 2024 - Australian Climate Tech Connect & Awards 2024
One-of-a-kind opportunity to connect with investors, founders and industry leaders while celebrating the achievements of the Australian climate tech industry in 2024.
Tue Dec 3 2024 - GreenIO Conference Paris
Green IO and apidays have partnered to gather 500+ responsible technologists on the 3rd, 4th and 5th December 2024 in Paris (CNIT - La DĂ©fense). They will get the latest insights from thought leaders in Tech Sustainability and hands-on feedback from practitioners scaling Green IT. Green IO Paris provides the perfect blend between various expertises (green software, sustainable design, green cloud, responsible AI, etc.) and various angles (practitioners, experts, academics, etc.).
Wed Dec 04 2024 - Lightening Lesson: What's Product-Market-Earth Fit?
In today's world, businesses must do more than deliver great productsâthey must meet the growing demand for environmental responsibility. đ€ Learn how to go beyond traditional Product-Market-Fit to ship great products while minimizing environmental impact
Mon Dec 09 2024 - Selective Analytics : Redefining the Future of Self-Service Analytics
Discover Selective Analytics, the next step beyond self-service BI, and explore the transformative power of the Mobile Selective Cloud. Simplified architecture improves performance, sustainability, reduces cloud dependency, and empowers users and businesses while reducing costs.
Tue Dec 10 2024 - The RIPE Green Tech Hackathon
Join the next RIPE NCC hackathon focused on Green Tech this December! This time, our goals are to develop tools, policies and protocols to reduce the environmental impact of Internet infrastructure. Apply now to join and help us organise this Sustain-a-thon!
Sat Dec 14 2024 - Event Submission EOIs > Climate Action Week Sydney
Climate Action Week Sydney empowers individuals, organisations and groups to independently host events while leveraging our mission, platform, and brand. From industry to government, schools to community leaders, and entrepreneurs to investors.
Mon Mar 10 2025 - Climate Action Week Sydney CAWSYD'25
March 10-16 2025 Mobilising All-of-Society Climate Action; Protecting and Leveraging Nature; Supporting the Industrial Transition; Sustainable and Resilient Cities; Financing a Viable Future and Regenerative Futures #CAWSYD'25
đ° News Highlights
Bloomberg Green: COP29 Ends With Deal on Climate Finance After Bitter Fight
Nearly 200 countries agreed to triple the amount of money available to help developing countries confront rapidly warming temperatures.
But the deal reached at the close of the two-week COP29 summit in Azerbaijan resulted from fractious and at times openly hostile negotiations, producing an agreement that even its supporters may see as insufficient and disappointing. The process of global climate cooperation will lurch forward from here under the weight of heavier existential questions.
National Geographic: Scientists discover world's largest coralâso big it can be seen from space
With corals around the world being affected by bleachingâ77 percent of coral reef areas were subjected to high enough temperatures to cause bleaching between 2023 and 2024â finding such an enormous individual colony still in good health offers hope that corals can be resilient enough to survive the climate crisis.Â
"Finding this mega coral is like discovering the tallest tree on earth," says Enric Sala, National Geographic Explorer in Residence and founder of Pristine Seas, via email. "This discovery rekindles our sense of awe and wonder about the ocean."
Datacentre Dynamics: Civo launches second UK cloud region with Deep Green
Cloud computing company Civo has launched a second cloud region in the UK with sustainability-focused data center provider Deep Green. Deep Green is also set to launch another data center that will heat a local swimming pool, located at the York Stadium Leisure Complex. Established in partnership with Deep Green, the new region is powered by 100 percent renewable energy and is housed in a Carbon-Z colocation data center.
Green Web Foundation: Notes from the sustainability chapter of the 2024 web Almanac
Earlier this month the 2024 edition of the HTTP Archive's Web Almanac was published â our industry's bi-annual "State of the Web" report. This is the second edition with a chapter focussed on digital sustainability, and the second using our Green Domains dataset. In this post we share some of the key highlights and takeaways from the report.
The Corner: First lawsuit for greenwashing in Spain: Iberdrola accuses Repsol of "misleading advertising"
This week, Iberdrola and Repsol faced off in court for the first-ever lawsuit between companies in Spain over greenwashing. Iberdrola has accused Repsol of "misleading advertising" and "unfair competition" under Spain's Unfair Competition Law, claiming that Repsol's sustainability claims deceive consumers by overshadowing its core fossil fuel activities. (found via the excellent newsletter Climate Court
Associated Press: Indonesia's Prabowo plans to retire all fossil fuel plants in 15 years, but experts are skeptical
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has announced that his government plans to retire all coal and other fossil fuel-power plants while drastically boosting the country's renewable energy capacity in the next 15 years. "Indonesia is rich in geothermal resources, and we plan to phase out coal-fired and all fossil-fueled power plants within the next 15 years" Indonesia is one of the world's largest producers and consumers of heavily polluting coal and most of its energy comes from fossil fuels.
Engagdget: Japan just sent the world's first wooden satellite to space
"With timber, a material we can produce by ourselves, we will be able to build houses, live and work in space forever," said Takao Doi, an astronaut affiliated with Kyoto University. This is the first step in a 50-year plan that includes planting trees and building actual timber houses on the moon and even Mars.
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. Remember: if you're looking for advice finding a role, check our #climate-careers channel.
Green Angel Ventures - Support and Development Engineer - ÂŁ24,000 - ÂŁ28,000 - Permanent - Totally remote
Green Angel Ventures is the reference early stage investor for UK climate innovation. We specialise in the fight against climate change.
The Support and Development Engineer is responsible for maintaining and improving IT systems and processes, for helping build them to support future growth, and for supporting our staff members. The role is quite broad, and will change over time.
Elemental Impact - Entrepreneur in Residence: Community Impact (Contractor) - $150/hr - Contract - Flexible - remote ok
We are looking for someone who is deeply knowledgeable about the experience of building a responsible community engagement practice in or for a climate tech company or similar context within corporate, and who can be a diligent partner for our entrepreneurs!
Icebreaker One - Senior Account Manager - Up to ÂŁ600/day, up to 3 days/wk until April 2025 with option to extend - Contract - Totally remote
IB1 is a non-profit with a mission to make data work harder to deliver net-zero outcomes. We convene stakeholders across sectors to develop systems of data governance called Trust Frameworks. These increase trust in decision-critical data in order for money and resources to be deployed more confidently to accelerate decarbonisation and boost biodiversity.
The Senior Account Manager is responsible for identifying, targeting and landing sales then implementing excellent customer service to clients and members to ensure exceptional delivery that builds long term relationships and secures repeated renewals
Commons - Lead Front-end Engineer - Levels 3-6, $129K â $205K âą 0.1% â 0.25% - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
We're looking for a lead front-end engineer who has experience building ReactJS consumer-facing software. We're looking for someone who loves building delightful user experiences and will be responsible for design and delivery of some of Commons' most important features.
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