š CAT Newsletter 292 - 2025-11-02
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 292 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.
[say something about FOSDEM, 2-3 sentences here, join #fosdem or see CAT Community News for more info]
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CAT Community News
š Get involved
ApplyĀ for aĀ CAT mini grantĀ to get some funds for a community-benefitting project
Join the Slack volunteering team as aĀ Slack moderatorĀ orĀ introductions volunteer
:female_technologist: CATs in FOSDEM! 2026
[add 4-6 few lines here]
Let's meet up at FOSDEM 2026!FOSDEM ā the world's largest open source conference ā is happeningĀ 31 Jan ā 1 Feb 2026Ā inĀ Brussels, Belgium. It's free, packed with hundreds of sessions, and a great place to connect aroundĀ Green IT,Ā network with like-minded people and other CATs, andĀ meet each other in person.\nIf you're thinking ofĀ attending,Ā presenting, or evenĀ running a stand, now's the perfect time to get involved!Join theĀ #fosdemĀ channel to:\nĀ ā¢ Share travel plans & event info\nĀ ā¢ Discover sessions on sustainability & open source\nĀ ā¢ Get support if you want toĀ propose a talk and become a speaker
#ļøā£ Slack channel highlights
#3-questions-and-ideas: Make the most of our 'Responsible AI' channel theme and vote forĀ which area of Responsible AI interests you most, answer 'What ethical considerations do you think about most when using AI?', or ask questions on this topic
#culture-society: Earlier in the monthĀ MĀ posted an article titled 'The curious, intertwined history of climate and digital rights activism' andĀ MĀ shared an article on why it matters that 'The words we use to talk about nature are disappearing' which a bunch of CATs have responded toĀ in the thread
#greener-infra:Ā IĀ is wonderingĀ whether anyone else is thinking about the AI infrastructure bubble burstingĀ and what that would look like in terms of excess data centre "stuff "?
š Upcoming CAT events
November/DecemberĀ - We're planning some local roundtables on the topic of Responsible AI -Ā get involved
Local events were shared inĀ #local-chicagoĀ andĀ #local-germany
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, Oct 31st. More info.
Media, events, and news
šŗ CAT recommendations
ā¶ļø CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
TED Talks: We're doing AI all wrong. Here's how to get it right
Artificial intelligence is changing everything ā but at what cost? AI sustainability expert Sasha Luccioni exposes how tech companies' massive data centers are burning through energy and wrecking the planet. She introduces a powerful alternative: small but mighty AI models that could flip the script and make the technology smarter, fairer and sustainable.
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 - and there's a full playlist of all the podcast episodes shared in this newsletter in 2025 so far, on ListenNotes.
Euronews Tech Talks: Space-based solar energy - reality or science fiction?
Although engineers began developing space-based solar energy technology in the 1960s, it still hasn't become a reality. Why?
In this episode, Euronews Tech Talks tries to answer this question by speaking with Sanjay Vijendran, co-founder and CTO of TerraSpark; Francesco Contino, professor at the school of engineering at UC Louvain; and Wei He, senior lecturer in engineering at King's College London.
The Climate Question: Will there be a solar power boom in Africa?
Africa gets a world beating amount of sunshine ā but has just 1% of the world's solar panels. But change may be comingā¦
New data from energy think tank EMBER shows a 60% jump in solar panel shipments to Africa in the past year. If installed, they could generate 15 GW ā nearly doubling Africa's current solar capacity. So, is this the start of a solar-powered revolution on the continent?
Catalyst: Unpacking DOE's proposal to transform data center interconnection
Last Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consider rulemaking to fast-track interconnection for large loads ā as long as they agree to be curtailable or colocate with dispatchable generation. So what does this proposal actually mean for interconnection?
A Sustainable Future: Professor Tapio Schneider, CalTech, on AI Climate Models, Tail Risks, and Small-Scale Processes
What's at stake in climate modelling? Professor Tapio Schneider, CalTech, discusses how computational science improves understanding of tail risks and extreme events; why small-scale processes are critical for accurate models; and how finance can better integrate climate data into investments.
Zero, The climate Race: The world's biggest consumers of electricity are hidden in plain sight
Just three companies control the lion's share of the $120 billion global market for industrial gases: Linde, Air Liquide & Air Products. And because the production of these gases is so energy intensive, each company consumes as much electricity as some small to medium-sized European countries. This week on Zero, Sanjiv Lamba, CEO of Linde, tells Akshat Rathi how he sees electricity demand changing, what Linde is doing to transition to clean sources, and whether low-carbon hydrogen can ever become big business.
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.
š CAT Workshop: Designing Responsibly in the Age of AI
Wednesday, October 29th | 16:00 - 17:30 GMT
Zoom š© RSVP https://luma.com/2cf0sfmc
Through stories, small-group reflection and hands-on exercises we'll examine and discuss how AI is showing up in our work, and what we can do to shape it with a bit more care, curiosity and conscience. You don't need to be an AI expert (in fact, that's the point). This session is open to the public, invite your colleagues! Led by CAT member Paolo Rizzi, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Principal at ustwo.
Wednesday Nov 05, 2025 - Snackable Skills: Questioning AI ā Designing for Sustainable Compute
āāAI is transforming how we build products ā but efficiency and sustainability still depend on our decisions. āAI assistants like Replit, Copilot, and Lovable make coding faster but not always greener. Join to learn how to apply Product-Market-Earth Fit thinking while vibe coding
Thursday Nov 13, 2025 - ecoCompute Conference 2025
Full Programm Released
The ecoCompute conference coming up in November 2025 has just released it's full two day program .
It will feature three tracks:
Software & Hardware
Data Centers / Infrastructure / Management
Community Track
as well as hands-on workshops.
Tuesday Nov 18, 2025 - Greening AI - a practical guide
AI and sustainability are a conflict ā but they don't have to be. There are many strategies and techniques for making AI more climate-friendly and resource-efficient. At the next meetup, we will learn a practical guide on how to make this happen, from planning to implementation.
Thursday Dec 11, 2025 - Startup Tank: Climate Edition
Join us for the next edition of 4WARD's Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch ā the premier platform where vetted climate tech founders pitch live to a global panel of leading climate VCs and investors.
š° News Highlights
Rewiring America: How household upgrades can meet 100 percent of data center demand growth
Increased demand from data centers is straining our electricity grid and driving up costs for everyone. In response to this new era of demand growth, hyperscalers and utilities are currently looking to centralized, utility-scale solutions, like building fossil fuel or nuclear power plants. However, there is an overlooked solution that has the potential to provide sweeping benefits: investing in the household as energy infrastructure.
The Guardian: Amazon strategised about keeping its datacentres' full water use secret, leaked document shows
Amazon strategised about keeping the public in the dark over the true extent of its datacentres' water use, a leaked internal document reveals. When designing a campaign for water efficiency, the company's cloud computing division chose to account for only a smaller water usage figure that does not include all the ways its datacentres use water so as to minimise the risk to its reputation, according to a leaked memo.
NDTV World: World's First White Iberian Lynx Spotted In Spain "Proof That Conservation Works"
AĀ white Iberian lynx, believed to be the first of its kind ever documented, has been spotted in the mountains of JaĆ©n in southern Spain. The sighting of the rare, leucistic wildcat is being celebrated as a landmark success for the conservation of the Iberian lynx, a species once on the verge of extinction.
Beyond Fossil Fuels: Majority of Europeans polled want rules to limit new data centres' impacts on energy, water and economy
A staggering majority of respondents in a polling commissioned by Beyond Fossil Fuels and conducted by Savanta in five European countries do not want new data centres (DCs) to jeopardise Europe's clean energy transition, drain water resources and raise costs for consumers. Respondents also expressed concern about data centres rising energy consumption.
The New Stack: 3 Case Studies From Green IO London
The green software movement is moving from theory to practice. At last month's Green IO conference in London, major organizations like HSBC, OVO Energy and the British government shared real-world case studies demonstrating how they've reduced carbon emissions through sustainable technology practices and cut costs in the process.
UN ITU [Press Release]: Open-access repository for sustainable software options
In a step toward long-term digital sustainability, partners from the tech industry have come together with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to launch an open-access repository listing sustainable software practices worldwide. The new repository enables access to practical, actionable solutions that can help digital developers, system architects, and any organization using technologies meet international standards, enhance efficiencies across their value chain, and reduce their environmental impact.
šĀ PapersĀ WeĀ LoveĀ š
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University: A Thermal-aware Workload Scheduler for High-performance LLM Inference in Cooling-regulated Datacenters
The wide deployment of AI datacenters has led to an increasing demand for energy. Recently, there have been developments in the area of reference cooling temperatures in datacenter server rooms, with the aim of avoiding the setting of excessively low temperatures to save energy.
This paper studies LLM inference serving in cooling-regulated datacenters. In cooling-regulated datacenters, existing schedulers can increase the probability of thermal throttling by 10 times, and the performance degradation can be as much as 34.2%.
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.
4WARD.earth - Multiple - 0 - Volunteer - Totally remote
4WARD is a global climate & sustainability community spanning 60+ cities with 1000s of online members.
We unite changemakers to drive climate action through collaboration. We're seeking passionate volunteers to help build our platform & community movement.
City and Local Events Volunteer Roles:
šŖ VP of Global Events & Communities - Scale community initiatives, manage regional leads, and track performance to grow the 4WARD ecosystem globally
š APAC Regional Manager - Support regional community growth and coordinate impactful events across Asia-Pacific cities
š± Regional Community & Events Assistant - Bridge local City Leads with regional management while organizing in-person climate community events
šÆ Local Leader Recruiter & Expansion Coordinator - Recruit and onboard city leads globally, growing local communities and transitioning relationships to regional managers
Apply: https://4ward.earth/volunteer
4WARD.earth - Multiple - 0 - Volunteer - Totally remote
4WARD is a global climate & sustainability community spanning 60+ cities with 1000s of online members.
We unite changemakers to drive climate action through collaboration. We're seeking passionate volunteers to help build our platform & community movement.
Consulting and Revenue Volunteer Roles:
š Head of 4WARD Startup/Scale-up Consulting & Services - Build our consulting practice by recruiting experts, acquiring clients, and delivering impactful climate strategies
š¼ SDR / Sales & Business Development for Consulting Arm - Generate leads, manage CRM outreach, and grow revenue opportunities for climate consulting services
š Head of Strategy & Revenue - Lead business model development, test revenue streams, and build sustainable financial growth through strategic partnerships
Apply: https://4ward.earth/volunteer
4WARD.earth - Multiple - 0 - Volunteer - Totally remote
4WARD is a global climate & sustainability community spanning 60+ cities with 1000s of online members.
We unite changemakers to drive climate action through collaboration. We're seeking passionate volunteers to help build our platform & community movement.
Team and Admin Volunteer Roles:
š„ Head of People & HR - Lead recruiting, mentor the interview team, and build company culture while establishing local hubs worldwide
š¤ Head of Partnerships - Build strategic partnership ecosystem, secure collaborations, and manage cross-promotional climate initiatives
š Head of Membership Program - Design freemium model, create member experiences, and grow our community of thousands of climate leaders
š Community Membership Manager - Connect with members, support onboarding on Circle platform, and strengthen ecosystem through engagement and collaboration
Apply Now: https://4ward.earth/volunteer
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