Hey CATs,

Welcome to issue 297 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!

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Stay curious 😌💚🐱

CAT Community News

We've got a few more events before the end of the year

🧠 Tue, Dec 9 - Green IO Paris [LIVE]: A Day in the Carbon Life of an LLM Prompt

Discover why Large Language Models' environmental footprint may be far less than the footprint of their software scaffolds, and how that changes our metrics, advocacy and policy approach. We'll also record Ismael's talk & demo (but not the discussion) and we'll post the recording in #greener-ai where we invite you to continue/join the conversation after the event is over.\nRSVP

📚 Wed, Dec 10 - Responsible AI Study Group

🌏 Sat, Dec 13 - CAT India Meet Up

🎉Tue, Dec 16 - CAT End-of-Year Celebration

Join to reflect on 2025 and celebrate community progress & member PAWS (Share your PAWS - Projects, Actions, Wins, and Stuff you learned at CAT - by adding a slide here. We've also booked an in-person space in London (UK), so if you're able join in-person, pls RSVP accordingly:\nRSVP for online participation\nRSVP for in-person participation in London, UK

🍩 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, Dec 12th. More info.

Media, events, and news

😺 CAT recommendations

🌱 A cutting from Branch

▶️ CAT videos

10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.

PBS Terra: You're Not Worried Enough About Sea Level Rise

New research shows sea level rise could accelerate far faster than cities can adapt to. In this episode, Maiya breaks down why even today's warming may already be enough to trigger long-term ice-sheet collapse. And what that means for our coasts, our cities, and our 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.

Environment Variables: The Week in Green Software - Thirsty AI

When artificial intelligence grows, so does its thirst. Chris Skipper hosts sustainability expert Valeria Salis, digging into the hidden cost of powering AI: the massive volumes of water needed to cool the data centers. From submerged servers off China's coast to European communities pushing back on tech infrastructure, they discuss the environmental trade-offs and the push for solutions that keep innovation flowing without draining local resources.

Catalyst: Who benefits from the AI power bottleneck?

The bottleneck holding back AI is a scarcity of power, or so goes the story. That may be true — and plenty of reporting backs it up — but different actors in the space face varying incentives to play up or play down that narrative. So what incentives are at play, and how do they shape each player's story?

In this episode, Shayle talks to Shanu Mathew, senior vice president and portfolio manager-analyst for US sustainable equity at Lazard. Last month on X, he posted a breakdown of the actors — including hyperscalers, chip makers, utilities, and others – and how the different incentives they face shape how they talk about energy and AI.

Climate Curious: How to tell between real and fake carbon capture, with James Mwangi

What's the real deal with carbon capture? Sucking carbon out of the air may sound like an enticing solution, but climate advocate and investor James Mwangi warns that the technology is too often used to justify polluting behaviour rather than prevent it. As he puts it, it's the difference between endlessly cleaning up a messy room versus simply not making the mess in the first place. Furthermore, the technology is very energy intensive; but Kenya, with 96% renewable energy, is uniquely positioned to provide this technology, says Mwangi. Recorded live in conversation with Climate Curious co-host Ben Hurst at TED Countdown 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Green IO: #70 Sustainability: A Strategic Advantage, (Not Just a Cost), with Sathpal Singh and Jo Masraff

It's time that we reframe sustainability as a criterion for success, not just a checkbox on a regulatory report. And on today's episode of Green IO, Gaël is joined by Jo Masraff and Sathpal Singh, two domain experts who demonstrate how changing our approach to sustainability can be a key difference maker for businesses across any industry. Jo and Sath also discuss the key findings from the recent Digital Product Sustainability Pulse Report, along with what they've seen in the field first hand, and (realistic) hopes for the future.

Solving for Climate: Dr Hannah Ritchie - Is AI bad for the planet?

In this episode we put our resident data scientist in the hot seat, and discuss a range of topics across her new book, Clearing the Air. From AI's energy appetite to the future of your household bills, and why electric vehicles leave Hannah feeling hopeful - her sharp, evidence driven answers will make you reconsider the headlines.

📅 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 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!

Tuesday Dec 09, 2025 - Edges. The hidden glue of your organisation

Edges are “the outside limit of an object, area, or surface”. Organisations themselves do not have real boundaries but artificial ones, a cognitive creation. We'll cover the key principles from Biomimicry research which led to Nature’s Blueprint for Business Power of Edges book.

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

HuggingFace: AI Energy Score v2: Refreshed Leaderboard, now with Reasoning

HuggingFace have launched a refreshed AI Energy Score leaderboard, featuring a new cohort of text generation models and the introduction of reasoning as a newly benchmarked task. The AI Energy Score project combines insights from prior benchmarking efforts to deliver a unified framework for evaluating the energy efficiency of AI models. Initially launched in February 2025, the leaderboard compares the energy efficiency of AI models across 10 tasks and multiple modalities (text, image, audio) using a standardized approach built on custom datasets and the latest generation of GPUs.

CleanTech Group: Where Adaptation Becomes Innovation - Inside the 2025 LATAM Cleantech 25

The world looks meaningfully different than it did the last LATAM Cleantech release, and that difference is showing up clearly in Latin America's innovation landscape. We're seeing several tracks of cleantech progress across the region. Some trends aligning tightly with today's global themes, and others distinctly Latin American, deepening and gaining momentum on their own terms.

New America: Using AI to Solve Environmental Problems with JR Washebek

JR works on problems at the nexus of AI, environment, and society, focusing on projects designed to navigate the conflict between our immediate needs and long-term ecological health. New America spoke with her about why she was drawn to this nexus, what she hopes to accomplish through the DSP fellowship, and what her hopes are for a future with AI.

Oceanographic: Norway extends Arctic deep-sea mining freeze through 2029

In a decision reverberating across the ocean governance community, Norway's newly elected government has moved to halt all deep-sea mining activity in its Arctic waters until at least the end of 2029,  signalling a dramatic break from the country's once-strong pro-mining stance.

Data Center Knowledge: Alternative Solutions for Data Center Cooling Needs

Data centers rely heavily on water for cooling, but alternative sources can reduce strain on municipal systems and support sustainability. The extent to which data center water consumption negatively impacts communities and the environment, however, can vary significantly based on one key factor: Whether water is sourced from municipal supplies.

ESG Today: EFRAG Releases Simplified European Sustainability Reporting Standards

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) announced the release of its finalized proposed revision of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), aimed at significantly simplifying and reducing sustainability reporting requirements for companies under the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

Discovery Alert: Blockchain-Based Mineral Tracking

The emergence of blockchain-based mineral tracking represents a fundamental shift in how extractive industries manage supply chain verification. Modern mining operations face increasing pressure to demonstrate compliance with environmental standards, ethical sourcing requirements, and national security protocols. This convergence of regulatory demands and technological capability has created a unique opportunity for distributed ledger systems to address longstanding transparency challenges in mineral supply chains.

💚 Papers We Love 💚

Nature: Environmental impact and net-zero pathways for sustainable artificial intelligence servers in the USA

The rapidly increasing demand for generative artificial intelligence (AI) models requires extensive server installation with sustainability implications in terms of the compound energy–water–climate impacts. This report's findings underscore the urgency of accelerating the energy transition and point to the need for AI companies to harness the clean energy potential of Midwestern states. Coordinating efforts of private actors and regulatory interventions would ensure the competitive and sustainable development of the AI sector.

💼 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.

https://behold.cam - Mobile app developer (hybrid) - €46,000–€55,000 - Permanent or contract - Totally remote

We’re looking for a skilled, creative mobile app developer who can take ownership of the hybrid app development at Behold, making our app work seamlessly (and sustainably) with our physical Behold Cam-1 and remote services. If you want to work on encouraging meaningful behavioural change, increasing engagement and repairing relationships with the animals you share your local environment with then this might be the time to do it.

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