🌍 CAT Newsletter 300 - 2026-01-25
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 300 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
Looking for volunteers
Want to make a difference through/within CAT in 2026? We're looking for more volunteers to help us keep programs going and get new ones started. Have a think about what you want to get out volunteering and see if something suits you...
:wave: Meet people & learn about Green IT
<2h per week | Introductions volunteer: Say hi to new CATs on Slack and help them get started
2-4h per week | Event planner (virtual or local): Bring CATs together to learn and take climate action in the tech industry
Volunteer in the #cat-systems-series
Collaborate with J on a coaching support group event on the topic of taking climate action at work
Collaborate with O on the next few book club events (#cat-book-club)
Get support for starting a local meetup
Suggest something new!
:computer: Practice & develop IT/comms skills
<2h per week | Social media manager: Work with S to manage our LinkedIn
2-4h per week | Newsletter editor: Work with M to edit and publish this very newsletter
:heart_hands: Build community experience
<2h per week | Slack moderator: Keep the community safe by dealing with spam and Code of Conduct issues
2-4h per week | Moderation lead: Coordinate and lead on moderation across Slack and events
Reach out in the #cat-volunteer-interest channel if you have questions or would like to get started :muscle:
📅 Meet CATs at FOSDEM
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
🍩 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, Jan 23rd. More info.
Media, events, and news
😺 CAT recommendations
▶️ CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
PBS Terra: How the World Ends According to Science
There's an 18% chance that global warming exceeds four degrees by 2100 and that's not a small risk when the stakes are civilization-ending. In this episode of Weathered, host Maiya May talks with civilization collapse researcher Luke Kemp and strategic climate risk expert Laurie Laybourn about why high-end warming scenarios are often dismissed as "doomerism," even though worst-case planning is standard in most fields. Understanding the climate endgame isn't pessimism. It's risk management.
🎤 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 this year so far, on ListenNotes - catch up with last year's here!
Tech Talks: The Environmental Mismatch - Modern Tech is Breaking Our Nervous Systems
We are living in an era of "environmental mismatch". Our bodies have evolved over millions of years, and they are now fighting (or running from) 'tigers' in a world of constant digital pings.
Waldi Hoon, CEO of yōjō, joins David to decode the Vagus nerve and the autonomic nervous system. She discusses why raw health data often leads to "wellness shame," the science of physiological safety, and how to rewire your body for recovery without abandoning your modern lifestyle.
Techologie: #101 Désescalade numérique, 10 propositions pour les municipales (1/2), Technologos et Richard Hanna
Cet épisode est une rediffusion de l'émission Paroles Technocritiques diffusée sur Radio Fréquence Paris Plurielle le 27 décembre 2025. Parole Technocritique est animée par les membres de l'association Technologos qui ont invité Richard Hanna à échanger sur les 10 propositions de désescalade numérique pour les municipales. Bonne écoute !
This episode is a rebroadcast of the program "Paroles Technocritiques" (Technocritical Voices) which aired on Radio Fréquence Paris Plurielle on December 27, 2025. "Parole Technocritique" is hosted by members of the Technologos association, who invited Richard Hanna to discuss their 10 proposals for digital de-escalation in the upcoming local elections.
Thinking on Paper: Space Solar Power - Can We Really Get Free Energy From Orbit? | Ex-SpaceX Engineer Explains
Can space-based solar power actually give humanity free, unlimited energy by 2030? John Bucknell, former SpaceX Senior Propulsion Engineer on the Raptor rocket engine and CEO of Virtus Solis, reveals how orbital solar power could drop energy costs from $40 per megawatt hour to just 50 cents, solving the energy trilemma that no other technology can achieve.
Solving for Climate: Can we heat homes from the London underground?
Unusual heat sources like the London Underground and data centres are being used to heat and cool cities - they're called, quite simply, heat networks. The director of one of the largest district heat networks in the UK explores how this could be a major decarbonising solution for population dense places around the world.
Stuff You Should Know: Data Centers - Can't Live With Em, Can't Live Without Em
Data centers are the backbone of our digital world. All the sites you visit and social media you post happen there. A boom in huge data centers to support AI is underway, and they're taking a big toll on the environment and life for the people around them.
📅 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 Jan 28, 2026 - 4WARD Climate Connect: Monthly Global Networking Session
Join us on Zoom for 60 minutes of structured networking in industry-specific breakout rooms.
Tuesday Feb 03, 2026 - AimHi Earth's Sustainability Essentials for Professionals
The ultimate 90-minute crash course for professionals to get to grips with the key climate, nature and sustainability concepts, how they link together and how to talk about them with impact!
Thursday Feb 05, 2026 - GovClimate Show and Tell
The monthly GovClimate Show and Tell
First Thursday of each month at 4pm
People from across the public sector sharing work, challenges and ideas about the climate crisis.
👉 Sign up for reminders and info at https://bit.ly/govclimatereminders
Thursday Feb 19, 2026 - Sustainable Tech Kickoff Social: Food, Drinks & Boardgames at Brân
Join us at Brân, Cardiff's Belgian beer and boardgames bar! This is an informal gathering to meet fellow group members and get to know each other over food and drinks. We'll have some simple games to help break the ice, but the focus is connecting with like-minded people.
Tuesday Mar 03, 2026 - Make It Count: Sustainability Communication Workshop
The ultimate 90-minute workshop to get to grips with how you can make every sustainability conversation count.
✅ Start better conversations about sustainability ✅ Avoid the awkwardness or overwhelm ✅ Share your passion in a way that invites curiosity – not shutdown
📰 News Highlights
Green Web Foundation: Your best chance in years to fix the rules for green energy ends this month
The end of this month is the deadline for being able to respond to a really important consultation run by GHG Protocol, a standards body that will shape how literally trillions will be spent on green energy in the next 10 years.
Mongabay: Mangrove restoration needs more than planting; it needs monitoring and data
India's mangroves vary widely across coasts, making site-specific, ecology-based restoration essential over uniform approaches. Comprehensive mangrove restoration requires strong baseline data for site-specific planning and sustained long-term monitoring to track outcomes.
TNX: Satellites deployed to protect Kenya's endangered mountain bongos
Kenya is deploying satellite surveillance to protect shrinking mountain bongo habitats as conservationists warn the species faces extinction if forest loss continues. The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) launched Project Centinela on January 16 at Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (MKWC), using daily satellite imagery to monitor forest cover, detect illegal logging and guide habitat restoration.
Al Jazeera: 'I hope they show humanity': Greenlanders fear Trump's desire for minerals
US President Donald Trump says he wants to buy Greenland from Denmark and is not taking 'no' for an answer. While the Trump administration argues that Greenland is geographically within the North American region and is vital for US security, observers say the US is equally interested in the island's vast mineral wealth.
Reuters: Environmental law group seeks probe of Meta's $27 billion Louisiana data center financing
U.S. environmental law group Earthjustice asked utility regulators in Louisiana on Wednesday to investigate the financing of a $27 billion Meta data center project, which Earthjustice says threatens to leave everyday homes and businesses on the hook for build-out costs. Environmental and consumer groups are increasingly pushing back against the energy-intensive data center expansion, arguing that it will significantly increase global warming emissions and raise power bills.
Phys.Org: Citizen science and plant apps map how urbanization alters city soils and climate
Plants reflect urban climate and soil conditions with remarkable precision. Using more than 80 million observations from plant identification apps, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry have produced a detailed picture of fine-scale climate and soil conditions for 326 European cities.
Latitude Media: How Iceland is rerouting its climate tech pipeline in the Trump era
For a decade Iceland incubated while the U.S. scaled. Now, startups are starting to look elsewhere — and China looms large.
💚 Papers We Love 💚
WEF: Nature Positive - Role of the Technology Sector
Technology permeates every facet of daily life. More than 1 trillion semiconductors are sold annually, while over 11,000 data centres are handling everything from streaming to 2 billion+ prompts sent daily to AI models. However, the sector remains dependent on limited natural resources and faces increasing physical threats from extreme weather events, which climate change and nature loss are exacerbating.
💼 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.
Furbnow - Software Engineer - £70-80k - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
We help homeowners make their homes sustainable with energy efficiency upgrades, managing complex projects involving low carbon tech and fabric improvements.
Vizzuality - Back End Engineer - NodeJS - €30,000 - €49,000 - Permanent - Totally remote
We're on the lookout for a back-end developer with experience in NodeJS/TypeScript.
Mid-level and senior developers are welcomed, we can offer a salary range of €30,000 - €49,000, remote in Spain, Portugal or UK.
WHY JOIN US?
👉 At Vizzuality, we aim to reach a fair and sustainable planet by creating tools that empower people to make positive changes. 👉 We are a world-leading technology, design, and science agency. We design and develop data-driven tools and applications for international organizations focusing on solving climate change and inequality. 👉 Solving such large and complex problems will bring you into contact with new technology and some of the world's most interesting organizations and academics in machine learning, remote sensing, and planetary data.
Support our work
You can support us financially on Open Collective.