š CAT Newsletter 276 - 2025-07-13
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 276 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.
Remember you can unsubscribe from this newsletter at any time - the link is at the bottom.
Stay safe & healthy š š š±su
CAT Community News
š Take community action
2min to spread the word: React to our recent LinkedIn posts or even better - repost them!
- Product manager playbookĀ
- Systems series part 3 summaryĀ
- Climate career posts fromĀ Chris,Ā Wilco,Ā GaĆ«l,Ā Sandra
#ļøā£ Channel highlights
#greener-infra:Ā OĀ shared thatĀ AWS has released an update to their Carbon Footprint toolĀ to include location-based emissions but MĀ isn't impressed.Ā What do you think? How are these small changes shaping the trajectory of sustainability & tech?
#greener-webdev:Ā RĀ shared someĀ insights from people at Google on AI crawlers: Blocking Google-Extended crawlers via robots.txt does not affect a website's ability to appear in AI overviews
#2-greener-software: C shared the published EcoWeb report
š Meet CATs at local events
Tue, Jul 15 -Ā #local-austria:Ā Permacomputing meetupĀ focussed on batteries
Wed, Jul 23 -Ā #local-london:Ā Code Green London x CAT x Climate Play meetupĀ where we'll use LEGO to explore the Future of Tech
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, July 25th. 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: Old wind turbines are piling up. Here's how to revive them.
Tens of thousands of old wind turbines are set to retire globally every year ā and many of them are bound to get scrapped. But some companies are trying to save them. They're snatching them up, refurbishing them and selling them on a booming second-hand market.
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
The Impact Equation: The Insiders
In this special edition of The Impact Equation, we hear from three insiders turned truth-tellers: Rizwan Naveed, former McKinsey energy strategist, Holly Alpine, former sustainability lead at Microsoft, and Jo Alexander, former BP executive. These three leaders have left the corporate world behind, but not quietly. Now they're shaping a different kind of change, from the outside in.
House of Life: #008 - Is it time for Sustainability 2.0?
Episode 8 of House of Life sees us diving into a dynamic exploration of AI-analyzed values, to the paradoxes of suffering, and the power of intuition, challenging conventional thinking and proposing a new vision for a spiritually grounded sustainability movement ā Sustainability 2.0.
Zero - The Climate Race: Why militaries can no longer ignore climate change
The world's militaries are incredibly polluting, collectively accounting for some 5.5% of global emissions. Western economies are now gearing up for a big expansion of their militaries, with members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) agreeing to increase defense spending to 5% of their gross domestic product by 2035. That will commit trillions of dollars more to an enormously carbon intensive industry, unless militaries can find a way to reduce their emissions. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi asks retired Lieutenant General Richard Nugee, author of the UK Ministry of Defence's climate change report: Can warfare go green?
Catalyst: Jeffries' Julien Dumoulin-Smith talks about what Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill means for residential solar.
Residential solar has had a rough couple of years. In 2024, the market contracted 31% and major companies like Sunpower and Titan went bankrupt. Now, only halfway through 2025, Sunnova and Mosaic have filed for bankruptcy, too. The market has suffered from low demand, high interest rates, and major policy changes like California's cuts to net metering.Ā So now that the One Big Beautiful Bill phases out key tax credits, what's next for the battered industry?
š 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 15, 2025 - Green Data Center for Green Software ā 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
Tuesday Jul 15, 2025 - Climate Confessional with Microsoft Sustainability Director, Charlie Sellars
Get to know Charlieās career transition into climate and his experience writing a climate book! We will be discussing themes such as how to speak business language in sustainability, influencing decision-making, and overcoming challenges as an ecopreneur.
Tuesday Jul 22, 2025 - Portfolio Tips and Tricks
Building a portfolio is like trying to hit a moving target. Every job is looking for something different, so how can you ensure you're resonating with your target audience? In this session, weāre going to break down how to build a portfolio that leaves a great first impression.
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
š° News Highlights
EuroNews: Major milestone for Polish energy as renewables generated more electricity than coal for first month
In June 2025, all renewable energy sources (RES) in Poland produced 44.1 per cent of electricity, while coal and lignite plants produced 43.7 per cent, according to preliminary estimates from the think tank Energy Forum. This would mean that, for the first time ever, renewables provided more energy than coal.
Actual IA: UNESCO Calls for Reducing the Energy Impact of LLMs
A joint study by UNESCO and University College London (UCL) reveals that simple adjustments in the design and use of language models can reduce their energy consumption by 90% without affecting their performance. In a context where the environmental footprint of AI is becoming a strategic issue, this finding invites a rethink of how LLMs are trained, deployed, and used globally.
Rest of World: Brazil wants to be a sustainable data center hub. Environmentalists are skeptical
Brazil is pitching itself as a green data center hub, offering tax incentives and renewable energy to big tech companies. In May, Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad flew to the U.S. to meet with executives from Amazon, Google, Nvidia, and Meta. His agenda: to pitch his country as the newest, most attractive data center hub in the region.
EcoWatch: First-Ever Mushroom Casket Burial in North America Could Signal Cultural Shift Toward More Planet-Friendly Traditions
With all the chemicals, wood and land used in traditional burials, they can be detrimental to the environment. Now, a company from the Netherlands has developed a casket made entirely of mycelium ā the network of thread-like structures that make up mushroom roots ā that biodegrades within 45 days of burial. The innovative Loop Living Cocoon mushroom casket is grown in one week and enriches the soil while nourishing new plant life.
The Guardian: Scientists use bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol
Bacteria can be used to turn plastic waste into painkillers, researchers have found, opening up the possibility of a more sustainable process for producing the drugs.
Chemists have discovered E coli can be used to create paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, from a material produced in the laboratory from plastic bottles.
European Space Agency: Biomass satellite returns striking first images of forests and more
ESA have revealed the first stunning images from its groundbreaking Biomass satellite mission ā marking a major leap forward in our ability to understand how Earth's forests are changing and exactly how they contribute to the global carbon cycle. But these inaugural glimpses go beyond forests.
š Papers We Love š
Springer Nature: Mitigating theĀ Carbon Footprint ofĀ Chatbots asĀ Consumers
In the context of the high energy demand of large language models (LLMs) and growing concerns about global warming, there is significant demand for actionable recommendations that can help reduce emissions when utilizing such technologies. This paper examines the environmental impact linked to a fundamental function of LLM-based conversational systems that might be less well known to end users: the conversational memory, which enables the system to maintain context throughout the dialog.
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 - ā¬27,000 ā ā¬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!
š Role: Business Development - Sustainability š Remote work (Spain, Portugal, UK) š¼ Full-time or part-time (min. 80% dedication) š° Salary range: ā¬27,000 ā ā¬35,000, depending on experience
š 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?
ā Work on projects that tackle climate change & environmental justice. ā Flexible hours, generous holiday, and remote work. ā 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 - Ā£55k-Ā£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 citiesādespite their proven effectivenessāremain 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 - Ā£70-100k + generous equity - Permanent - Totally remote
Yottar is a startup on a mission to speed up the shift to clean energy. Weāre 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. Weāre focused on solving this - helping developers see where thereās 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
GovTech (Government Technology Agency of Singapore) - Senior/Lead Product Manager - (assumed $8-10K per month) - Contract - Flexible - remote ok
This product has two goals.
- key goal ā help gov agencies reduce their resource consumption (e.g. elec, water, fuel, waste), through accessible data and actionable insights.
- sub goal ā walk-the-talk in our productās digital design and SWE process; document learnings; share with the rest of SG gov š. --- so we can get buy-in to green more SG govās digital services š„¹
Youāll be part of a team thatās building a tool to:
- gather relevant data, help gov agencies more easily and quickly understand what actions they can take. and importantly,
- humanise the data to nudge gov officers to take action šŖš½.
JOIN ME PLEASE!!! (cos i'm currently a one-pax team š we're in the midst of forming the team!)
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