🌍 CAT Newsletter 275 - 2025-07-06
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 275 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 😌 💚 🐱su
CAT Community News
💰 Mini grant updates: Product Management case studies and new Linux Transition project!
Our Product Management mini grant was focussed on collecting case studies on climate-conscious product management. In their latest project update the team shares their process, what they've collected, and deep dives into three of the case studies they discovered. They also share what they learned, their key takeaways, and what's next. Read the update on our blog
Secondly, we're happy to announce a new project funded by our CAT mini grants program: Linux transition research and report
The project will focus on researching the challenges faced by individuals and organizations when transitioning from Windows to Linux, particularly in light of the upcoming end of Windows support on October 14, 2025. This transition is critical for environmental and security reasons, as outdated systems can lead to increased e-waste and expose vulnerable communities to cybersecurity risks.
💚 Report published for our member project #EcoWeb
31 volunteers from this CAT community teamed up to analyze the carbon footprint of over 500 websites of organizations in the climate space. The results provide a benchmark for digital emissions among climate action organizations and give some food for thought on making the web greener.
You can check out the blog post and the full report on the CAT blog.
📅 CAT Events
Mon, Jul 7th - CAT book club: Insolvent [online]
🍩 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, July 11th. More info.
Media, events, and news
😺 CAT recommendations
▶️ CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
Planet A: This is what is holding back electric cars
Even the most EV-crazed countries can have so-called charging deserts where your electric car could run out of juice any minute. Why were these areas overlooked? And how do we get charging stations there?
🎤 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 - The Climate Race: The UK now has a state-owned clean-energy champion. Can it succeed?
When the UK handed the Labour party a parliamentary majority last July, it promised to build a new state owned energy company called Great British Energy. It's almost exactly one year since its creation, and GB Energy now has a budget of £5.8 billion to get the organization off the ground. It sounds like a lot of money, but is it? And what exactly will the organization do with all of it? On Zero this week, Akshat Rathi spoke to Dan McGrail, interim CEO of GB Energy, to find out the answers.
Environment Variables: Software Standards Working Group SCI
In this Backstage episode of Environment Variables, podcast producer Chris Skipper highlights the Green Software Foundation's Software Standards Working Group—chaired by Henry Richardson (WattTime) and Navveen Balani (Accenture). This group is central to shaping global benchmarks for sustainable software. Key initiatives discussed include the Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) Specification, its extensions for AI and the web, the Real-Time Energy and Carbon Standard for cloud providers, the SCI Guide, and the TOSS framework. Together, these tools aim to drive emissions reduction through interoperable, transparent, and globally applicable standards.
All About Policy: Pretty Art, Ugly Footprint - Building Sustainable AI
In today's episode of "All Things Policy," Adya Madhavan and Anwesha Sen delve into the escalating energy demands of Artificial Intelligence. They discuss how the rapid growth of AI, exemplified by tools like ChatGPT, comes with a significant and often overlooked environmental cost due to the immense electricity consumption of data centers. The episode explores potential sustainable solutions, specifically questioning whether leveraging nuclear energy through Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) could be a viable alternative to support the booming AI and data infrastructure.
Tech Talks: Are businesses measuring sustainability or just marketing it?
Sustainability has become a business imperative—but is it driving real change, or is it just another PR exercise?
In this episode of Tech Talks, David Savage is joined by Sammi Gower (Pollen Advisory), Tanishq Jain (Dash), and Louis Millon (Systemiq Capital) to discuss how climate tech and data are shaping the green economy.
They explore the role of AI, data, and regulation in sustainability, questioning whether businesses are truly innovating or simply adapting their reporting to meet expectations.
📅 Submitted events
Want an event listed here? Use this event listing form to submit the details so we can add it in the newsletter.
Tuesday Jul 08, 2025 - Meme-tivism: Rethinking AI's Environmental Impact Through Humour
Would you like to create memes to rethink AI's environmental impact through humor? Join us at London Data Week for a creative workshop where we’ll explore how memes can help us rethink about the environmental impact and sustainability of AI and co-create memes together!
Tuesday Jul 15, 2025 - Green Data Center for Green Software – Green Software for Green Data Center
Green Software Development and Data Centres are dependent on each other if we want to build and operate green software. This event will bring together the players in digitalisation - Developers, Scaleway, Heat & Cloud and windCORES. Let's start a dialog
Wednesday Sep 24, 2025 - Green IO London 2025
Green IO and apidays London have partnered to gather 350+ responsible technologists to answer a simple question requiring complex answers:
"Good for the Planet, Good for Business?"
Hosted by Apidays, this takes place on September 23 to 24, 2025 in etc.venues, 155 Bishopsgate.
Sunday Aug 29, 2027 - Biodiversity Basics for Product Professionals
The products we build rely on and affect nature. This workshop will address: 1. What is biodiversity and why is it relevant for product professionals 2. What can you do & practical examples 3. Your takeaway: first biodiversity analysis along your product's value chain
📰 News Highlights
Advanced Biofuels: CO2-eating Bacteria Recycled Carbon from Chimney Amoke Directly Into New Products
Researchers from Aarhus University (AU) have developed a new technology that uses microorganisms to convert the CO2 in flue gas directly for new purposes – for example fuels or substances for the chemicals industry.
The Guardian: Google's emissions up 51% as AI electricity demand derails efforts to go green
Google's carbon emissions have soared by 51% since 2019 as artificial intelligence hampers the tech company's efforts to go green. While the corporation has invested in renewable energy and carbon removal technology, it has failed to curb its scope 3 emissions, which are those further down the supply chain, and are in large part influenced by a growth in datacentre capacity required to power artificial intelligence.
Newsweek: Yann LeCun, Pioneer of AI, Thinks Today's LLM's Are Nearly Obsolete
Yann LeCun, Meta's chief AI scientist and one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, believes LLMs will be largely obsolete within five years.
The Washington Post: How this group got Trump to sign a pro-environment executive order
The "Make America Beautiful Again" executive order will establish a council tasked with preserving public lands, wildlife and drinking water supplies. Several people familiar with the matter described how Nature Is Nonpartisan, a relatively new and little-known group in Washington, persuaded the president to embrace the order.
ABC News: Climate change making it harder for us to sleep, study says
Rising temperatures, amplified by climate change, are contributing to an increase in cases of sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing repeatedly stops during sleep, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications
European Environment Agency: Europe's land carbon sink declines, but its potential stays high
Europe's forests and land are absorbing less carbon than expected, putting the 2030 target for the sector at risk. But with the right policies and measures, the land use and forestry sector could still play a crucial role in climate mitigation, with significant co-benefits for people and nature, according to a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report published today
Labo Socitété Numérique:The carbon footprint of digital equipment increases with income level, peaking among young people
At a time when households are being asked to make efforts to control their environmental impact, a recent CREDOC study shows that the higher the standard of living, the greater the carbon footprint of digital equipment. Wealthier households in particular are more equipped with terminals (computers, tablets, etc.) than modest households. This research also shows that the carbon footprint peaks among 18-24 year-olds, who have more recent and diverse equipment than their elders
💚 Papers We Love 💚
Journal of Environmental Management: Identifying the carbon intensity of different digital integration modes, Considering the location of the digital products
The integration between digital and non-digital sectors has significantly impacted the global low-carbon transformation; however, the identifying of its integration models remains insufficient. This paper constructs a novel and comprehensive decomposition framework for digital integration from the perspective of the location of the digital products, utilizing the inter-country input-output (ICIO) model.
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.
Vizzuality - Business Development Sustainability - €27,000 – €35,000 Eur a year - Permanent - Totally remote
Hiring / Business Development Sustainability
Do you have experience in Sustainability, ESG, business development, and client relationships? If yes, you might be our next team member!
🔍 Role: Business Development - Sustainability 📍 Remote work (Spain, Portugal, UK) 💼 Full-time or part-time (min. 80% dedication) 💰 Salary range: €27,000 – €35,000, depending on experience
🌍 At Vizzuality, we design and develop data-driven tools and applications for international organizations that focus on Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Inequality. Our teams are passionate, values-driven, and committed to making meaningful change.
Why work with us?
✅ Work on projects that tackle climate change & environmental justice. ✅ Flexible hours, generous holiday, and remote work. ✅ A culture rooted in autonomy, care, and collaboration.
Overstory - Senior Product Designer - 130k-200k depending on location - Permanent - Totally remote
Helping to build an AI climate resiliency platform for electric utilities. We use remote sensing data (satellite, aerial...) to pinpoint risky locations alongside a utility network and help them reduce the risk of a wildfire or power outage.
Openestead - Founding Engineer - £55k-£65k - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
Openstead is an early-stage climate finance startup. Our mission is to mobilise funding that protects the places we live and work from climate risk.
Following the development of our MVP with industry support and funding, we are now looking to expand on our product to help insurers and property investors manage climate risk across their property portfolios.
Urban flooding risk is causing billions in losses for insurers and property investors. While climate adaptation is an urgent priority, nature-based solutions in cities—despite their proven effectiveness—remain drastically underfunded because their financial benefits to asset owners and insurers are difficult to quantify. This disconnect leaves billions in urban assets vulnerable and insurance incorrectly priced.
Our ambition is to make urban nature-based solutions into a mainstream investment class by providing the financial intelligence needed to scale green infrastructure as essential climate infrastructure.
Yottar - Full Stack Engineer - £70-100k + generous equity - Permanent - Totally remote
Yottar is a startup on a mission to speed up the shift to clean energy. We’re building a SaaS platform that helps energy developers figure out where they can connect new infrastructure - like EV chargers, batteries, or solar - to the electricity grid.
Right now, one of the biggest blockers to building the infrastructure we need for net zero is grid congestion. We’re focused on solving this - helping developers see where there’s spare capacity on the grid, and plan smarter, faster projects as a result.
We're looking for an experienced Full Stack Engineer who's excited to build something from the ground up. You'll get to shape both the product and how we build it. The ideal candidate is someone who happy making decisions, owning solutions end-to-end and working with a high degree of autonomy.
Our tech stack is boring: Django, Python, PostGIS and we're proud of that.
The deadline for applications is 16th July
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