🌍 CAT Newsletter 248 - 2024-12-01
👉 Latest newsletter
CAT 248 - 2024-12-01
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 248 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
🎉 CAT 2024 celebration event
It's happening! Our last event of 2024 is near! Join us on via Zoom on Tue, Dec 10 for our CAT 2024 – year in review and celebration. More info
✏️ From the blog
Read the recap of the 🌊 reflecting session from the CAT Gen AI Exploratorium for reflection prompts that can inspire big-picture reflection on how our collective currents could shape the tech industry landscape.
🧠 Knowledge base deepdive
Find other CATs on the socials
There is now a starter pack of CAT members you can easily follow on Bluesky!
You can also use the new Bluesky & Mastodon: CATs & recommended accounts page if you'd like to connect to fellow CATs on Bluesky or Mastodon. Log in with your CAT Slack account to add a link to your account, or share your climate or tech-focused account recommendations.
🍩 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, Dec 13th. More info
Media, events, and news
😺 CAT recommendations
▶️ CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
Planet A: V2G: How electric cars could solve one of our biggest problems
We need electric cars. And ideally, we'd charge them using renewable energy. But wind turbines don't always spin and solar panels don't work when it's cloudy or dark. So how are we going to charge the millions of power-hungry EVs that are hitting our streets every year? Well, it turns out that – rather than being part of the problem – electric cars and a technology called vehicle to grid could actually be part of the solution.
🎤 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's last-minute deal is a miracle and a mess
It went well past the official deadline, late into the night – but finally, COP29 ended with a deal. Hardly anyone felt victorious. Back from Baku, reporter Akshat Rathi tells producer Mythili Rao why the agreed on New Climate Quantified Goal of $300 billion made both developed and developing countries unhappy, and he shares what heads of state and ministers from Denmark to Mauritania and Indonesia to Israel had to tell Zero about this year's conference.
Solving for Climate: Dr Sasha Luccioni - The climate cost of AI
Despite the inexorable growth of Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT or Midjourney in the past couple of years, painfully little is known - or at least publicised - about their carbon impact. However, Dr Sasha Luccioni is on a mission to change that. Hannah and Rob talk to her about how she's trying to maximise the benefits of AI, while minimising its hidden climate costs. Why is AI development such a black box? And could AI be part of the solution to the climate crisis?
Outrage And Optimism 275. COP29 Conclusions
This week, the team dives into the dramatic highs and lows of COP29 in Baku. With negotiations stretching into the final hours, a hard-fought finance deal emerged to bolster climate action and support for the most vulnerable. Yet, Christiana describes the agreement as "paltry at best," highlighting the yawning chasm between what was agreed upon and what is truly necessary to address the climate crisis.
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: Powering AI on Atomic Energy
TWiGS host Anne Currie is joined by Stefana Sopco, Marketing Manager at PortXchange and a passionate climate activist, for an insightful discussion on the intersection of AI, sustainability, and the maritime industry's decarbonization journey. Stefana They also dive into the challenges posed by AI's growing energy demand and explore nuclear power as a potential ally in the climate fight. 📅 Submitted events
Want an event listed here? Use this event listing form to submit the details so we can add it in the newsletter.
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 Défense). 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 products—they must meet the growing demand for environmental responsibility. 🤔 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
📰 News Highlights
Ketan Joshi: Nature and people shouldn't be designated losers in the energy transition
It is because climate action is so urgent that we should be careful with how we roll out clean energy.If you are worried about climate impacts, you should worry about how to ensure the growth of wind and solar doesn't occur in a self-sabotaging and destructive way.
We need speed, yes, but we also need to maintain speed. Sacrificing the latter to achieve the former results in failure.
The New Republic: The (US Govt.) House Just Made It Easier to Target Climate Groups
On Thursday, the House passed a bill that could hand the Trump administration near-unilateral power to strip nonprofit status from organizations—including climate and environmental groups, news outlets, and even universities.
The bill, which grants the Treasury Department a new power to designate nonprofits as "terrorist supporting organizations" and revoke their tax-exempt status accordingly, could head to the Senate before the end of the year.
Ireland election 2024: What the manifestos say on climate change and energy
Ireland's data centres turning to fossil fuels after maxing out country's electricity grid
https://www.thejournal.ie/investigates-data-centres-6554698-Nov2024/
Datacentres using backup and emergency generators in Ireland are releasing huge quantities of carbon dioxide emissions, a new investigation has revealed. The Journal Investigates has uncovered that over 135,000 tonnes of CO2 was emitted from these centres in the last five years from generators not on the electricity grid.
The investigation also highlights how some planned data centres intend to be powered by natural gas because they cannot be connected to the grid as it is under such strain.
Hannah Ritchie: What's the impact of artificial intelligence on energy demand?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been, by far, the most-requested topic over the last year for this newsletter. I've avoided writing about it, because good data on its energy consumption and climate implications is hard to get (see our podcast episode with Sasha Luccioni), and without decent data, I'm just wand-waving.
But a few things made me think I should finally say something. I doubt it will be the last article I write on the topic because things are evolving quickly.
Prof Hannah Daly: Unfettered data centre growth works against Ireland's climate obligations
There have been a number of op-eds and think pieces in the Irish media recently arguing to keep growing the data centre industry in this country. A common thread among these articles is a claim that data centres are supporting Ireland's energy transition, rather than working against our climate goals, as I and others have claimed.
I wanted to take some time to look at the evidence behind these claims,and the following are statistics and analysis I offer, which challenge the notion that such growth in data centres can be compatible with – or even support – Ireland's carbon budgets.
Carbon Brief: Ireland election 2024 - What the manifestos say on climate change and energy
This weekend, Ireland will hold its first general election since before the Covid-19 pandemic. Voters will elect new Teachtaí Dála – members of Ireland's lower house of parliament, the Dáil.
The top three parties remain neck-and-neck. As of polling released on 25 November, Fianna Fáil is leading with 21% of support from voters, Sinn Féin on 20% and Fine Gael on 19%.
In the interactive grid below, Carbon Brief tracks the climate commitments made by the six most popular parties in a 25 November opinion poll, based on their latest manifestos.
The Guardian: New powder that captures carbon could be 'quantum leap' for industry
An innocuous yellow powder, created in a lab, could be a new way to combat the climate crisis by absorbing carbon from the air. Just half a pound of the stuff may remove as much carbon dioxide as a tree can, according to early tests. Once the carbon is absorbed by the powder, it can be released into safe storage or be used in industrial processes, like carbonizing drinks.
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 - £24,000 - £28,000 - 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 £600/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 – $205K • 0.1% – 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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