🌍 CAT Newsletter 293 - 2025-11-9
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 293 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.
Join #fosdem for more info on FOSDEM 2026, and to co-ordinate with other CAT members!
Remember you can unsubscribe from this newsletter at any time - the link is at the bottom.
Stay curious 😌💚🐱
CAT Community News
#️⃣ Slack highlights
#2-greener-tech: which climate goals are you setting in November? Share in the thread
#3-questions-and-ideas: H has been thinking about the importance of hope and imagination of digital sustainability work and shared and article that sparked some conversation
#fosdem: Join the channel to co-ordiate CAT's presence at FOSDEM 2026. Talk ideas, meetups, event updates and how to be a speaker!
#greener-webdev: I highlighted a knowledge gap in the digital sustainability community, when it comes to agentic AI - only thinking about LLM models and not LLM systems
#local-latin-america: Malo Raisin shared that a few organisations in Mexico are formalising the foundation of Alianza Green IT Mexico
📅 Upcoming CAT events
Wed, Nov 12 - CAT book club: Moral ambition - a more casual discussion, more in #cat-book-club
Sat, Nov 15 - CAT India meetup: Navigating climate tech landscape of India [online] - learn more and stay up to date by joining #local-india
Thu, Nov 20 - CAT Systems series: Communicating sustainability in tech in the age of AI - more in #cat-systems-series
Dec 9-11 - Green IO Paris [in person] - join as a CAT volunteer hy filling out the form in #local-france
Jan 31 - Feb 1, 2026 - FOSDEM [in person] - join #fosdem for sharing travel plans and event info, or get support if you want to propose a talk
We're planning some local roundtables on the topic of Responsible AI - get involved
🍩 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, Nov 14th. More info.
Media, events, and news
😺 CAT recommendations
▶️ CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
TED Talks: The emerging science of finding critical metals
Your smartphone, computer and electric car all depend on one thing — critical minerals buried deep underground. But there's a catch: the mining industry has gotten dramatically worse at discovering new deposits just when we need them most, says mining innovator Mfikeyi Makayi. She introduces new AI-powered technology that could fix this problem by predicting mineral locations 10,000 times faster than conventional methods and transforming an industry essential to a sustainable future.
🎤 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.
AI Sustainability Podcast: How Thirsty is AI? Learning from the leading expert Professor Shaolei Ren
In this episode of the AI Sustainability podcast, Nina Benoit interviews Professor Shaolei Ren, who discusses his groundbreaking research on the water footprint of AI systems. The conversation explores the significant water consumption associated with AI, both directly through cooling data centers and indirectly through electricity generation. Professor Ren emphasizes the importance of understanding these impacts and offers solutions for reducing water usage in data centers, including the use of reclaimed water and innovative cooling systems.
Catalyst: Inside a $300m bet on AI for materials discovery
A big problem with using artificial intelligence to discover new materials? It struggles to predict beyond its training data. That means AI might be better at optimizing known materials than discovering entirely new ones. But, a few things have changed. OpenAI released its powerful O1 reasoning model. Large language models have also gotten better at math, physics, and coding. And lab automation has improved, allowing for a higher volume of experiments.
So, can these improvements overcome AI's training data problem?
Energ'ethic: To Build Fast, You Need Fair, with Arthur Hirsch
Europe knows it must move fast on renewables and grid infrastructure. But speed without fairness only builds friction. In this episode, Marine Cornelis speaks with Arthur Hinsch, Senior Expert at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, about the Fast and Fair Renewables & Grids Initiative — a first-of-its-kind European consensus on how to scale up solar, wind, and grid projects while ensuring that local communities see real benefits and have a voice.
GreenIO: #68 A dive into every GenAI rabbit hole with Wilco Burggraff and Mark Butcher
Over the last 3 months, several studies were published about GenAI and its environmental footprint. The most famous are Mistral AI's life cycle analysis and Google's study on Gemini. The opportunity and the conclusions of the Gemini prompt study were heavily debated in the Green IT field, including by two of the most respected thought leaders: Mark Butcher and Wilco Burggraff.
Outrage + Optimisme: Inside COP, World Leaders Gather in Belém - with Jacinda Ardern and Selwin Hart
As COP30 opens in Belém, world leaders have gathered for the first major moment of this Amazon-based summit in the shadow of growing doubts about global cooperation. With some major countries absent and others already signalling caution, the urgency of credible action is louder than ever.
📅 Submitted events
Want an event listed here? Use this event listing form to submit the details so we can add it in the newsletter.
📅 CAT Workshop: Designing Responsibly in the Age of AI
Wednesday, October 29th | 16:00 - 17:30 GMT
Zoom 📩 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.
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 – 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.
Monday Dec 01, 2025 - SOSV's Robotics VC-Founder Matchup
Join us Dec 1-5 for a free virtual robotics investment event. 500 startups meet 500 investors for 1:1 meetings. Hosted by SOSV, connect emerging robotics innovators with capital to scale. Register: https://sosv.com/announcing-sosvs-vc-founder-robotics-matchup-dec-1-5/
Tuesday Dec 09, 2025 - Green IO Paris 2025
Green IO is where Tech leaders join forces to overcome unprecedented sustainability challenges in IT. The theme of the 2025 edition is "Building Europe of Green IT". The "crème de la crème" of European thought leaders in Tech Sustainability will be there to share & network!
Thursday Dec 11, 2025 - Startup Tank: Climate Edition
Join us for the next edition of 4WARD's Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch — the premier platform where vetted climate tech founders pitch live to a global panel of leading climate VCs and investors.
📰 News Highlights
IEA: Integrated energy and water management will boost savings in industry
The world has a water problem and industry can be part of the solution. Half the world's population experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year, with poorer communities worst affected, threatening livelihoods, health and economic output. Industry could help address these scarcity issues by reducing their own water use and increasing energy efficiency.
The Guardian: 'The city that draws the line' - one Arizona community's fight against a huge datacenter
A company's opaque plan to build a huge datacenter outside Tucson, Arizona has roiled the desert city over the past few months, the latest US community to push back as tech companies aggressively seek to build out infrastructure for cloud computing and to power the AI boom.
The proposed datacenter, known as Project Blue, would span 290 acres in Pima county, and become the biggest development ever in the county, or anywhere in the southern part of the state.
ScottLogic: Introducing the Latest Version of the Tech Carbon Standard Estimator
The Technology Carbon Standard Estimator (TCSE) is designed to provide a high-level overview of the potential areas of carbon impact within your IT estate.
Since its inception in July 2024, the TCSE has undergone various updates, and ScottLogic are excited to announce the next batch of feature enhancements. The idea behind these updates is to ensure the tool continues to be valuable across a variety of use cases, while laying the groundwork for future improvements.
HuggingFace: Power, Heat, and Intelligence - AI Data Centers Explained
If you've ever wondered how AI data centers impact the environment, you've come to the right place! This explainer aims to present a comprehensive overview of the energy, water and natural resource use of hyperscale data centers, what we know about them, and how they're evolving over time. We've structured it around 3 themes: general information about data centers and deep dives into their energy and water usage. Each section consists of a series of questions that we've often been asked on the topic. We conclude with an overview of ongoing legislation that is relevant to data centers, and a discussion of open questions and topics.
Popular Science: 14 hilarious finalists from the 2025 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
Each year, the awards celebrate the hilarious hijinks of the animal kingdom and this year is no exception. From silly birds to flying squirrels and open-mouthed fish to gossiping leopards, you'll chuckle at every image. The winners will be announced on December 9.
HackerNoon: The Hidden Ledger of Code - Tracking the Carbon Debt Inside Our Software
Every line of code carries an invisible cost. As software scales, so does the energy it consumes and the emissions it generates. This growing footprint forms what many engineers now call carbon debt: the accumulation of energy waste caused by inefficient architecture, redundant compute, or neglected cleanup. Sustainability in software doesn't start in a server farm, but it starts at the keyboard. For years, efficiency meant speed and uptime, and now it also means restraint.
Earth: Dark Side of the Boom - A Collaborative Special Report on Resource-Intensive Digital Technologies in Asia
The digital revolution sweeping across the world, including Asia, comes with a hidden cost: one measured not in bytes and bandwidth, but in kilowatt-hours and liters of water (often in the millions). As cloud and AI-related data centers and cryptocurrency mining proliferate throughout the continent, they are placing unprecedented strain on finite natural resources already impacted by climate change and rapid economic development.
💚 Papers We Love 💚
HotCarbon: Towards Decentralized and Sustainable Foundation Model Training with the Edge
Foundation models are at the forefront of AI research, appealing for their ability to learn from vast datasets and cater to diverse tasks. Yet, their significant computational demands raise issues of environmental impact and the risk of centralized control in their development. This paper puts forward a vision towards decentralized and sustainable foundation model training that leverages the collective compute of sparingly used connected edge AI devices. The team present the rationale behind the vision, particularly in support of its sustainability benefit, and then further outline a set of challenges that need to be addressed to turn this vision into reality.
💼 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:
🎪 VP of Global Events & Communities - Scale community initiatives, manage regional leads, and track performance to grow the 4WARD ecosystem globally
🌏 APAC Regional Manager - Support regional community growth and coordinate impactful events across Asia-Pacific cities
🌱 Regional Community & Events Assistant - Bridge local City Leads with regional management while organizing in-person climate community events
🎯 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:
🚀 Head of 4WARD Startup/Scale-up Consulting & Services - Build our consulting practice by recruiting experts, acquiring clients, and delivering impactful climate strategies
💼 SDR / Sales & Business Development for Consulting Arm - Generate leads, manage CRM outreach, and grow revenue opportunities for climate consulting services
📊 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:
👥 Head of People & HR - Lead recruiting, mentor the interview team, and build company culture while establishing local hubs worldwide
🤝 Head of Partnerships - Build strategic partnership ecosystem, secure collaborations, and manage cross-promotional climate initiatives
🏆 Head of Membership Program - Design freemium model, create member experiences, and grow our community of thousands of climate leaders
💎 Community Membership Manager - Connect with members, support onboarding on Circle platform, and strengthen ecosystem through engagement and collaboration
Apply Now: https://4ward.earth/volunteer
Right to Repair Europe - Campaign Manager - €4,000–€4,250/month - Contract - Onsite only
The Campaign Manager of Right to Repair Europe serves as the strategist, spokesperson, and operational manager for the coalition advocating for the right to repair at the European level. The primary goal is to ensure that EU policy and legislation are adopted and robustly implemented to make repair affordable, accessible, and mainstream for consumers and repair businesses.
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