š CAT Newsletter 255 - 2025-02-16
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 255 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 outĀ our onboarding checklist.
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Stay safe & healthy š š š±
CAT Community News
#ļøā£ Slack channel highlights
#2-greener-software:Ā JĀ is looking for inspiration andĀ asking for any existing procurement guides for green software and IT
#greener-marketing:Ā OĀ shared an article about the 'enshittification of digital marketing' and is wondering: Have you been seeing decreased engagement with your social media or newsletter? And what do you think about the solutions proposed in the article?Ā Share your thoughts in the thread
#greener-data-ai:Ā NĀ is askingĀ whether you've come across any kind of ethical genAI tools out thereĀ andĀ AĀ sharedĀ Hugging Face AI Energy Score leaderboardĀ across 10 common AI tasks
#carbon-footprint: J shared a practical exampleĀ on howĀ gov.ukĀ is baselining emissions
š Local conversations
#local-united-states: After the inauguration,Ā M is askingĀ whether you are organizing or getting involved in community groupsĀ and whether there's been a strategy shift in environmental/climate groups?
#local-uk: Lots of petitions and letters to MP actions have been shared recently, plus MĀ is talking at theĀ Green Software event in Brighton on Wed, Feb 19
#local-belgium:Ā A is looking toĀ connect with green software folks
#local-australia:Ā Climate action week in SydneyĀ is coming up from Mar 10-16
š CAT events
Tue, Mar 4thĀ -Ā CAT Open Meeting: Organizer Update and AMAĀ [online] -Ā register now
Join us for an update from ourĀ Organizer group: Chris Adams is stepping down as an organizer but staying involved as a CAT Director, and we're looking for aĀ Tech organizerĀ andĀ Comms organizerĀ to help keep the community going! We'll share what it's been like to collaborate in the Organizing team, followed by an AMA session with the Organizers.
š§ Knowledge base deep dive
Learn about green teams: Making change happen is easier as part of a team! Log into the CAT knowledge base with your CAT Slack account to learn more about building a team to address Sustainability in your own company!
š© Community networking
Every 2 weeks, we match 2-3 CATs so you can connect over a quick 30-minute call. Join #cat-roulette, pick your region and wait for a message from Donut. The next round of matches will go out on Fri, Feb 21st. More info.
Media, events, and news
šŗ CAT recommendations
ā¶ļø CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
Planet A: Big Tech's carbon offsets are threatening Kenyans
US tech giants are spending millions to buy carbon offsets in the Global South. But this disenfranchises indigenous herders, while human rights organizations worry that fencing and armed enforcement of grazing rules are eroding nomadic traditions without prior consent from residents.
š¤Ā Podcasts
The latest climate-related podcast episodes. Don't forget, if you're looking around, there's a list of podcasts maintained by CATs
Green IO #53: Sustainability at WordPress: an update with Csaba Varszegi, Nahuai Badiola, and Nora Ferreiros
"Today I learned that we have a sustainability team. Thank you for your effort in this area, looking at results of the team so far, and the ROI of time invested, it's probably a good time to officially dissolve the team entirely". In 3 sentences, almost 3 years of work from the WordPress Sustainability Group vanished and their Slack channel archived on the spot. To get clarity on what happened at WordPress and to understand what a WordPress practitioner can do to reduce the environmental footprint of her digital services, GaĆ«l Duez welcomes 3 of the 4 founders of the original sustainability team: Csaba Varszegi, Nahuai Badiola, and Nora Ferreiros.Ā
Code Green 05: AI and Energy Transitions in Asia
In this episode, we hear from John Cotton & Priya Donti on the enthusiasm of governments in Asia in using AI to improve the efficiency of energy systems & manage energy demand & supply. We discuss AI's potential to help integrate renewable energy sources into the grid, challenges in the area, environmental impacts & ways to manage them, and the need to invest in capacity building & skill development.
š Submitted events
Tue Feb 25 2025 - Urban Futures: Harnessing Nature Based Innovation for Resilient Cities
Join us for an engaging fireside chat with Dr. Nadina Galle, a pioneering ecological engineer, researcher, and author, as we explore how cities can embrace nature-based solutions and technology to build thriving and resilient cities.
Thu Mar 06 2025 - Digital Product Sustainability Pulse
We have the need, & the suggested techniques, but few act.
Join the launch of the Digital Product Sustainability Pulse, which summarises expert know-how and results from Product Owner interviews across Europe on Digital Product Sustainability.
Want an event listed here? Use this event listing form to submit the details so we can add it in the newsletter.
š° News Highlights
Newsweek: New AI Energy Score Tool Lets You Choose an AI Model Based on Efficiency
a new online tool unveiled Monday provides a first-of-its-kind evaluation of the energy use and environmental impact of AI models. The AI Energy Score is intended to let software developers, companies and other AI users compare the energy profiles of different AI tools, do some comparative shopping and make decisions informed by the ranked sustainability scores of AI options.Ā It offers a clear and standardized benchmark for measuring AI energy consumption, ensuring that the AI community can make informed, sustainable choices.
Green IT Eco: The Green IT Association release the results of their Global Survey 2025
Last week, the Green IT Association published the results of its 2025 Global Survey on the Environmental Footprint of the Digital World. This survey looked at the full lifecycle of IT: the manufacturing, distribution, use and disposal of IT devices globally.(English report pending, community summary in English here)
The Guardian: 'Darwin's frogs' saved from extinction
Dozens of endangered froglets have been born after conservationists launched an emergency mission to rescue members of the species from a remote national park in Chile.
Google: GCP complete an LCA of their TPU hardware, exploring sustainable AI
This blog from GCP fellows David Patterson and Parthasarathy Ranganathan have completed an LCA of GCP's TPU hardware, exploring the carbon efficiency of five models of TPUs.
Phys: Whalesong patterns follow a universal law of human language, new research finds
In new research published in Science, our team of experts in whale song, linguistics and developmental psychology analyzed eight years' of song recordings from humpback whales in New Caledonia. We discovered that the same Zipfian pattern universally found across human languages also occurs in whale song. Researchers have hunted for evidence of this pattern in communication among other species, but until now no other examples have been found.
š Papers We Love š
As an experiment for the next 3 issues, we'll be linking to a paper for people interested in doing a deep dive into the world of digital sustainability. Suggest a paper by sending a recommendation toĀ hello@climateAction.tech, along with why you shared it
Friends of the earth whitepaper: Harnessing AI for environmental justice
Friends of the Earth have put together a report, funded by the Green Screen Coalition, setting out principles for responsible AI use.
When it comes to environmental action, there will be benefits to the application of artificial intelligence. But these must be balanced against the many environmental and social costs, including massive energy and water consumption, the amplification of disinformation, and the concentration of power in the hands of a small number of people.
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.
Elemental Impact - Director of Development - $106,400- $191,000 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
The Director of Development will primarily focus on materials creation, as well as researching new funding opportunities to build an expanding portfolio of private and public funders. They will work in close collaboration with the Managing Director of Growth and across a team of practitioners and partnership builders in order to create an aligned fundraising strategy.
Green Web Foundation - Mid / senior Django Developer - 350-500 EUR / day - Contract - Flexible - remote ok
Weāre looking for an experienced freelance Django developer whoās comfortable working at mid-level or above to join our small, but ambitious team on a part-time contract basis.
This role will support feature development and maintenance for our Django-based Green Web Foundation platform.
Support our work
You can support us financially onĀ Open Collective.