š CAT Newsletter 285 - 2025-09-16
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 285 of the ClimateAction.tech (CAT) Newsletter - your weekly summary of what's happening inside the CAT Slack community (join here and check out our onboarding checklist), and in the wider world of climate and tech.
Remember you can unsubscribe from this newsletter at any time - the link is at the bottom.
Stay curious ššš±
CAT Community News
āļø Employee action on Sun Day (Sep 21)
CĀ highlighted Sun DayĀ in theĀ #newsĀ channel a few weeks back.Ā Sun DayĀ is a day of action celebrating renewable energy onĀ September 21st. There areĀ resourcesĀ for employees to use to mark the day from Employee climate Action network. Share your action in our weekly action posts inĀ #2-greener-tech!
ā¤ļø Help a CAT
M is putting together a presentation at work about unnecessary use of AI and isĀ looking for some more simple practical tips
A is wondering: Does anyone have examples of small to mid sized businesses or agencies that have moved away from platforms like GSuite/Microsoft to less ethically troubling alternatives?Ā Share your examples
For German-speaking CATs, over inĀ #local-switzerlandĀ CĀ is asking CATs to reply toĀ a LinkedIn postĀ where someone argued that AI is "notĀ reallyĀ a threat to the climate"
š CAT Book Club
O postedĀ a summary of our last get-togetherĀ inĀ #cat-book-clubĀ and we're now deciding on what to read next!
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, September 19th. More info.
Media, events, and news
šŗ CAT recommendations
š± A cutting from Branch
Branch issue 9: An Internet that Works with Our Natural Rhythm
The internet is 'always-on'. You can browse the millions of active websites at any time, in almost any location. You can shop, for just about anything, whenever you feel the urge to. You can play games; message people on the other side of the world; watch tutorials of how to make things. Whatever you want. Whenever you want.
This goes against all of our natural rhythms.
ā¶ļø CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
PBS Terra: How Microplastics Infiltrated Our Food (And One Way To Get Them Out)
Oysters are powerful ecosystem engineersāthey filter water, reduce ocean acidification, and build reefs that act as natural breakwaters, protecting our coasts. But the plastic gear used to farm them is doing irreversible harm to the very ecosystems oysters help restore. Abby Barrows, a marine scientist and microplastics researcher turned oyster farmer, is confronting this paradox head-on. At her Maine-based oyster farm, Deer Isle Oyster Company, Abby is pioneering plastic-free aquaculture gearāand in doing so, she's challenging not only how we farm oysters sustainably, but also how we imagine the future of aquaculture itself.
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
Catalyst: When to colocate data centers with generation
The idea of colocating data centers with behind-the-meter generation is picking up steam, including large projects in Memphis, Texas, and Utah developing significant on-site capacity, mostly from combined-cycle gas plants. The main argument is speed to power. Building your own generation allows data centers to sidestep the challenges involved in grid upgrades, transmission, and permitting.Ā
But when does a good idea jump the shark?
Green IO: 63.b AI & Energy Efficiency: just follow the money? with Anne Currie
Anne Currie is the co-author of the acclaimed O'Reilly book "Building Green Software", a pillar of the GSF, a veteran in the Cloud Industry and also a SF novelist with her series of panopticon books.Ā
Preparing her forthcoming keynote at Green IO London, she went all the way down into the rabbit hole of AI and energy efficiency. She investigated from OpenAi to DeepSeek and open source models, what a software developer using these models can and cannot do to reduce energy consumption, and so on.Ā
Outrage + Optimism: Beyond the Bad News: Evidence for Climate Optimism
From stalled UN plastics treaty talks, to the hottest summer on record across much of the northern hemisphere - it's been a bleak few weeks for climate news. So this week, against a backdrop of worsening headlines, we ask: are there still reasons to be optimistic? And what will it take to turn urgency into real change?
Zero - The Climate Race: Formula E shows the mind-boggling speed at which electric cars evolve
You've heard about Formula 1, right? But do you know about Formula E, its plucky all-electric sibling? This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi talks with Sylvain Filippi, co-founder and chief technology officer of Envision Racing, about why the world needs an electric racing series, how Formula E is improving the experience for consumer electric cars, and why he's not too concerned about the US backlash against EVs.
House of Life: #011 - Re-Finding Balance: Genetic Pollution, Addictions, and True Abundance
In episode 11 of House of Life, the team explore begin with Tom's personal health journey ā from post-viral fatigue to recovery through infrared light therapy. But what starts as a discussion about cellular energy quickly expands into a broader examination of how our efficiency improvements, from LED lights to modern medicine, may be creating invisible deficiencies we don't yet understand.
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.
Wednesday Sep 17, 2025 - Agilists4Planet Conference - Grounded in Hope
Are you curious about how you could contribute to a brighter future for humanity? Come join us to get inspired by real-world stories, learn about impactful ways to use your skills, and solve problems together.
Thursday Sep 18, 2025 - Agilists4Planet Conference - Grounded in Hope
Are you curious about how you could contribute to a brighter future for humanity? Come join us to get inspired by real-world stories, learn about impactful ways to use your skills, and solve problems together.
Thursday Sep 18, 2025 - Earthed Summit 2025: Generation Restoration
On 18 September, Earthed takes over the iconic EartH in Hackney, London, for a full day-to-night festival: the Earthed Summit 2025: Generation Restoration, a vibrant programme of talks, workshops, immersive sound experiences, live music and DJ sets.
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.
Wednesday Sep 24, 2025 - 4WARD's Climate Connect
Meet seasoned climate and sustainability professionals from around the worldāleaders, founders, investors, and changemakersāwho are serious about driving the transition to a sustainable future.
Thursday Sep 25, 2025 - Ride the Change
Ride the Change is a community-led bike ride for people passionate about climate and nature. The shared 4 day adventure makes space for deep connection and conversations that matter, while also exploring rewilding sites of Kent & Sussex.
Tuesday Sep 30, 2025 - Call for Speakers closing on 30.09 - ecoCompute conference
ecoCompute is a green tech conference purely dedicated to digital sustainability. On 30.09.2025 the Call for Speakers will close - Make your voice heard and submit your contribution until the end of the month!
ecoCompute will happen in Berlin on 13&14 November
Tuesday Sep 30, 2025 - Showcase your Story: Live Portfolio Redesign
We will coach Ely, a mid-career job seeker who is looking for work in social media and climate communications. Ely wants to redesign their portfolio so ensure it presents their best work and potential clients can easily purchase their services.
š° News Highlights
Tom's Hardware: Google quietly removes net-zero carbon goal from website amid rapid power-hungry AI data center buildout
Google's goal to be net-zero in carbon emissions by 2030 is still apparently company policy, it's just not broadcasting it anymore. As a result of Google's major strategy shift towards AI, the company announced that its greenhouse gas emissions climbed by 48% in the past year, noting then that this boom would make the 2030 goal a challenge.
Mongabay: More than half the world's forests fragmented in 20 years ā but protection works
Fragmentation, the process by which large areas of intact forest become broken up into smaller pieces, is increasing in most of the world's forests, according to a new Science study authored by Crowther and other researchers at institutions in Switzerland, Australia, China, the U.S. and the UK. Ā
The study finds that more than 50% of the world's forests became more fragmented between 2000 and 2020.
NonProfit Quarterly: They Say Climate Tech Will Save Us, but Who Will Save Us from Climate Tech?
Carbon capture startups tout breakthroughs in clean air, electric vehicles promise guilt-free mobility, and AI-driven systems claim to optimize everything. The optics are powerful: innovation, urgency, and hope, all wrapped up in the idea of progress. But beneath this high-tech sheen is a sobering contradiction. While climate tech races ahead, the planet's health continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate. For all its promise, climate tech has yet to turn the tide. The uncomfortable truth is that innovation is not inherently transformative unless wielded with the right intent, policies, and accountability.
Politico: UK's AI ambitions clash with its climate goals
Tech giants must be allowed to burn more fossil fuels if the U.K. is to become a global AI leader, British ministers were told this summer.
The warning was raised at a meeting in late June between Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and executives from leading U.S. tech firms. The suggestion ā that on-site gas fuel cells could provide an "interim measure" to get around lengthy waits for a connection to the electricity grid ā exposes the tensions the U.K. faces as it tries to be both a climate leader and an "AI maker."Ā
The Green Software Foundation [Press Release]: GSF and W3C Collaborate to Advance Adoption of Web Sustainability Measurement
The Green Software Foundation (GSF) and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announce their collaboration to advance sustainable web development through shared research, standards development, and measurement frameworks, with a key focus on developing the SCI for Web standard.Ā The assembly will start on September 16, 2025.
IEEE Spectrum: The Real Story on AI's Water Useāand How to Tackle It
Data centers are increasingly turning to immersive cooling to reduce water use. Reducing AI's water footprint means tackling two very different issuesāwhat happens inside the data center walls, and what happens beyond them on the power grid. The reality of the intertwined water and electricity systems forces data center operators to navigate tough trade-offs between global climate goals and local water needs.
Financial Times: Our answers to climate change are damaging nature
As the extinction of plants and animals accelerates, our dependence on the natural world is deepening. We still don't know enough about the impact of massive extinction to quantify the risks of throwing Mother Nature out of balance or to assess how close we are to the tipping point. But we do know we are already at a critical crossroads.
šĀ PapersĀ WeĀ LoveĀ š
Purdue University: Not All Water Consumption Is Equal - A Water Stress Weighted Metric for Sustainable Computing
Water consumption is an increasingly critical dimension of computing sustainability, especially as AI workloads rapidly scale. However, current water impact assessment often overlooks where and when water stress is more severe. To fill in this gap, this paper presents SCARF, the first general framework that evaluates water impact of computing by factoring in both spatial and temporal variations in water stress. SCARF calculates an Adjusted Water Impact (AWI) metric that considers both consumption volume and local water stress over time. Through three case studies on LLM serving, datacenters, and semiconductor fabrication plants, they show the hidden opportunities for reducing water impact by optimizing location and time choices, paving the way for water-sustainable computing
š¼ 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.
Ambitious Impact - Non-profit Entrepreneur ā Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program - This is a fully funded training program with no fees. Participants receive a stipend of approximately Ā£1,900 per month, with flexibility for those who may need more (or less) support based on their personal circumstances. Post-Program Salary: After the program, founder salaries depend on the seed funding secured, generally ranging from Ā£100,000 to Ā£150,000. Most founders set their own salaries between Ā£30,000 and Ā£45,000, depending on individual financial needs. - Permanent -
Want to work on high-impact climate interventions? Launch your own charity through our fully funded Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program. In just two months, youāll get training, funding, and mentorship to start an organisation tackling global inequalities at scale.
Too many charity jobs focus on fundraising over real impact. We help founders create field-leading nonprofits that solve major problems efficiently. Since launch, weāve started 50+ organisations improving the lives of 1B+ animals and reaching 75M+ people.
Our research team invests 5,000+ hours annually identifying top solutions. Charities from our program have gained recognition from funders like the Gates Foundation, USAID, Open Philanthropy, and GiveWell. For example, Giving Green, founded in 2020 with $60K, has since raised $31.8M for high-impact climate nonprofits.
Program Dates: - Spring: Feb 9 ā Apr 5, 2026 - Summer: Aug ā Sep, 2026
Apply by Sep 21, 2025 at charityentrepreneurship.com!
Treeconomy - Mid-level Engineer (Full Stack) - Equivalent to Ā£50-60k annual - Contract - Flexible - remote ok
š³ My team at Treeconomy are building a digital twin of nature-based carbon projects. Our products create the integrity that big corporates need to finance nature restoration at scale.
š¬š§Ā Due to our funding requirements, we must hire someone based in the UK with an existing right to work. Youāll be close enough to London to pop into the office on a short train or flight.Ā Contract starts in October, lasting 6 months.
If this sounds like you, check out the role description and apply before 12 September.
Support our work
You can support us financially onĀ Open Collective.