🌍 CAT Newsletter 311- 2026-04-12
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 311 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 😌💚🐱
CAT Community News
✍️ From the blog
We're officially introducing the Responsible AI Event Series with events planned for April, May, June, July, September, and November. We'll keep you updated in the "📅 CAT Events" section once we set the exact dates and you can also subscribe to our Luma page to stay notified.
🧑 Who's who
"Who's who" is a new page listing CAT members and things they know about*. If you're looking for the best person to ask about a topic, consider looking here!
*you'll need to log in with your CAT Slack account to see this page in our knowledge base Outline - if you're having trouble you can follow the steps here
👀 Looking for new volunteers
These roles give you the freedom to try new approaches and they offer an experience of volunteering with a lovely team for a climate-focussed community. We're looking for volunteers in the following roles to join us for 6 months:
What you do: Coordinate and respond to Code of Conduct incidents or spam, refresh our community principles
What's in it for you: Experience with community moderation, writing, and volunteer management
Apply by sending a message in #cat-volunteer-interest
What you do: Respond to Code of Conduct incidents or spam, share ideas for improving our documentation
What's in it for you: Experience with community moderation
Apply by sending a message in #cat-volunteer-interest
What you do: Lead the quarterly evaluation meetings for mini grant applications, lead the volunteer team, be in charge of keeping the community up to date with the program (coordinate newsletter updates and blog posts)
What's in it for you: Experience with program leadership, a behind the scenes of non-profit finance flows, and volunteer management
Apply by sending a message in #cat-volunteer-interest\n\nNone of these sound fun? Look at all open roles on Miro
📅 CAT events (See all)
Wed, Apr 8 - The Trap of Easy Solutions: A Systems Archetype Workshop [online] - this #cat-systems-series workshop will give you a practical mental tool: a way to recognize when a solution is masking a deeper issue
Apr 9 - Meme-tivisim - Rethinking AI's environmental impact in #local-london [in-person] - part of our Responsible AI series, this is a 2-hour, fun, hands-on, in-person workshop where we'll explore how memes can help us re-think the environmental impact and sustainability of AI & ML
🍩 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, Apr 10th. More info
Media, events, and news
▶️ CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
TED: The Story You're Not Hearing About AI Data Centers
The race to build smarter AI is crashing into a physical limitation: the power grid simply can't keep up with the energy demands of data centers. Computer scientist Ayșe Coskun shows how we could turn this problem on its head, transforming AI facilities into virtual batteries that help stabilize the grid and accelerate clean energy. Learn why the technology causing this crisis might be the only thing smart enough to fix it.
🎤 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!
Climate Curious: Why nature isn't "other" it's "mother", with Paul Hawken
We've all heard the language: "fight," "tackle," "combat" the climate crisis, right? But what if the "warrior mindset" wasn't just a battle cry, but actually part of the problem? According to OG environmentalist Paul Hawken, it is, because it "others" nature. Paul joins Climate Curious to share why it's time to stop trying to "fix" the Earth, and remember instead that we are a part of it.
Catalyst: The rise of flexible data centers
As the buildout of data centers accelerates on a dramatic trajectory,its strain on the electric grid has increased in turn; forecasts suggest they could consume up to 17% of all US power by 2030. To avoid higher rates and slower AI growth, the industry has embraced a promising solution: data center flexibility.
In this episode, Shayle speaks with Varun Sivaram, the CEO of Emerald AI. Coming on the heels of a $25 million investment round led by Energy Impact Partners, Varun returns to the show to provide an update on the "wickedly complicated" challenge of aligning utilities, cloud providers, and the grid.
Environment Variables: Does Faster AI mean Greener AI?
Hosts Adi and Valeria cover new research showing that faster AI models do not always use less energy, especially when multiple models run in parallel. They highlight how the lack of standardized metrics makes it difficult to fairly compare energy efficiency and can lead to inconsistent reporting. They also discuss a curated set of open-source tools for measuring software energy use and why measurement is a critical but challenging first step. Finally, they explore a broader view of digital sustainability beyond carbon and highlight the launch of the Green Software Foundation website as a key resource.
Zero, The Climate: How the Iran war will reshape the future of energy
Since the US and Israel launched their attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, global energy markets have been frenetic, prices swinging up and down with each new headline. Even with the prospect of the Strait of Hormuz reopening, prices of oil and gas have risen around the world, and we're starting to see impacts on local economies, particularly in Asia. This week on Zero, Bloomberg opinion columnist David Fickling explains what those impacts are, and how they may reshape Asia's energy systems for decades to come.
The AI Sustainability Podcast: Tackling food waste with AI with the expert Philippe Schuler
In this episode of the AI Sustainability Podcast, Nina Benoit welcomes Philippe Schuler, a sustainability expert, author, and educator, to explore how artificial intelligence can help address the global challenge of food waste. They discuss systemic issues across supply chains, the potential of AI for efficiency, and the importance of maintaining human connections in sustainable practices.
Energ'ethic: Your Flat Called. It Wants a Battery - Ashley Grealish, Windfall Energy
Half of European households live in flats or rented homes. For a decade, the clean energy transition has passed them by — smart tariffs assume an EV, rooftop solar assumes a roof, home batteries assume a wall you can drill into. Ashley Grealish has spent his career on exactly this structural gap: first at Bboxx, building pay-as-you-go solar for half a million homes in rural East Africa; then at ev.energy, scaling smart EV charging while pushing it beyond premium vehicles; now at Windfall Energy, with a 2.5 kWh plug-in battery that arrives overnight, plugs into a standard socket, and does the rest itself.
The Climate Question: Why are some cities banning fossil fuel ads?
How much does advertising influence what we buy and how we think? A growing number of cities are restricting adverts for fossil fuel products, from flights and petrol cars to gas heating. From May, Amsterdam is set to become the first capital city to do so. In 2024, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on countries to introduce similar bans worldwide.
In this episode of The Climate Question, Jordan Dunbar asks whether banning fossil fuel adverts is a good idea and whether it makes any difference when it comes to fighting climate change. He speaks to Marco Silva from BBC Verify about the role advertising plays in shaping public attitudes, and Anna Holligan, the BBC's correspondent in The Hague, explains how the restrictions in The Netherlands actually work.
📅 Submitted events
Want an event listed here? Use this event listing form to submit the details so we can add it in the newsletter.
Thursday Apr 16, 2026 - Beyond Nature-based Solutions learning session (Co-creation with the More-than-Human sandbox)
What if nature-based solutions weren't primarily about serving human needs, but about co-creating multispecies communities where care and cohabitation shape how we design and inhabit places? Join us for our 12th learning session to explore this and other questions.
Tuesday Apr 21, 2026 - Product-Market-Earth Fit: The Missing Layer of Modern Product Strategy
What if Product-Market Fit isn’t enough? Learn how to design products that reduce emissions and drive growth. A practical 75-min workshop on Product-Market-Earth Fit with real case studies, frameworks, and ideas you can test next sprint.
Wednesday Apr 22, 2026 - The Carbon Market Emerging Beneath AI
A timely conversation about carbon removal during San Francisco Climate Week - at a gorgeous private residence. This event brings together AI founders, engineers and investors who care about climate and want to get involved in CDR.
Wednesday Apr 22, 2026 - Climate Tech Time
Climate Tech Time is the UK’s largest monthly gathering for climate tech. We bring together 150+ investors, startups, government and climate enthusiasts for meaningful conversations.
Thursday May 14, 2026 - Founders Connect
An event laser-focused on founders to tap into incredible resources and free advice from experts through 7 types of office hours (legal, branding, fundraising), founder fireside chats, and problem-solving workshops.
Wednesday May 20, 2026 - Climate Tech Time
Climate Tech Time is the UK’s largest monthly gathering for climate tech. We bring together 150+ investors, startups, government and climate enthusiasts for meaningful conversations.
Thursday May 21, 2026 - The Reverse Pitch: Climate VCs in the Hot Seat
In a playful turn of events, the VCs will be taking the stage to pitch themselves to the room. After presenting, each VC will be put on the spot by a panel of founders, answering the questions founders care about, live on stage. Anyone in the ecosystem is welcome to join!
Friday Jun 19, 2026 - Pixel Pioneers Bristol
Pixel Pioneers, a conference for front-end developers and UX/UI designers, this year features a talk on designing and building for the low-carbon web. Sustainable web designer & developer Nick Lewis will explore how to reduce the footprint of our digital products and services.
Saturday Jun 20, 2026 - London Climate Action Week
London Climate Action Week harnesses the unique power of London for global and local climate action.
Mobilising London’s unparalleled ecosystem of climate and non-climate organisations to accelerate global climate action and supports action in London.
📰 News Highlights
TechTarget: Modern data center sustainability - 5 best practices to consider
Sustainable data centers are needed as energy demands rise. CIOs should consider the following best practices to reduce costs, manage resources and minimize their carbon footprint.
Tech In Africa: Investors Eye Africa's Green Economy in 2025
Africa's green economy is transforming into a global investment hotspot. In 2025, private investments in clean energy surged, with funding jumping from $17 billion in 2019 to nearly $40 billion in 2024.
The Guardian: Are OnlyFans models the best way to explain the climate crisis?
Actor Megan Prescott has joined with Adam McKay in the hope that showing bite-size web videos of women undressing will persuade us to save the world. Will it work?
Released through the not-for-profit Yellow Dot Studios – belonging to Adam McKay, creator of movies The Big Short and Don't Look Up – Headline Newds is made up of bite-size videos in which the climate emergency is broken down and raunchily explained to us by a variety of OnlyFans models.
Data Centre Dynamics: GDS launches pilot with EcoCeres to trial use of HVO at data center in northern China
Chinese data center developer GDS has launched a pilot project with EcoCeres to trial the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as a replacement for its diesel-powered backup generation units.
ESG Tech Report: ESG Analysis Under Pressure - The Data Problem
As an ESG analyst, rating divergence is permanent. Accept it, choose methodology deliberately, and acknowledge data limits. Technology cannot manufacture information that suppliers never measured. It cannot resolve genuine methodological disagreements about what constitutes material ESG performance.
Wilco Burgraaf: Nobody Said "Sustainability" — But These Two Talks Were All About It
Wilco went to Voxxed Days, Amsterdam, expecting strong ideas about architecture, engineering culture, AI, delivery, and modernization. What I did not expect was to walk out of two talks feeling that I had just heard two compelling talks about sustainability.
Computer Weekly: Navigating the opaque fog of public cloud carbon footprints
Cloud providers make it impossible to really assess carbon footprint. Differing definitions mask the true impact, especially in emissions from hardware production.
💚 Papers We Love 💚
Nature.com: 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.
Other factors, such as industry efficiency initiatives, grid decarbonization rates and the spatial distribution of server locations within the United States, drive deep uncertainties in the estimated water and carbon footprints. This paper will show that the AI server industry is unlikely to meet its net-zero aspirations by 2030 without substantial reliance on highly uncertain carbon offset and water restoration mechanisms.
💼 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.
Enverse - Business Development Manager - GBP 40000-70000 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
Enverse is hiring a high-impact Business Development Manager to drive growth in industrial energy optimisation. This is a hands-on, technical role focused on building pipeline, engaging engineering stakeholders, and converting opportunities into funded projects and commercial deals. Work directly with the CEO at the intersection of IoT, AI, and decarbonisation. Ideal for candidates with 3–7 years in energy or industrial sectors who thrive on ownership, pace, and delivering measurable revenue impact.
Enverse - Senior Backend Engineer - £40,000.00-£70,000.00 - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
Enverse is hiring a Senior Backend Developer to build and scale a cutting-edge industrial data and analytics platform. This is a high-ownership role working directly with the CEO, shaping backend architecture, APIs, and cloud/edge systems using Python, FastAPI, and AWS. Ideal for experienced engineers who thrive in fast-paced environments and want real technical influence, with a clear path toward leadership in a growing IoT and energy-focused startup.
Natcap - Senior Product Designer - Up to £70K - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
The world is facing a nature crisis. We have lost 85% of the world’s wetlands, 35% of its forests, and 65% of its living creatures. Action on nature is the next frontier for sustainability, as the world expands beyond a narrow focus on net zero. Natcap is at the forefront of this movement. Natcap is the market leader in Nature Intelligence and has recently raised funding and is poised for significant growth.
We’re looking for a Senior Product Designer to take ownership of design at Natcap. You will join the team responsible to transform the business from consulting to product-led. Our recently launched product has an established foundation and you will be responsible for raising the quality, consistency, and impact of design across the platform.
This role is both hands-on and strategic: improving what exists, introducing stronger design practices, and helping the product evolve into a more mature, scalable system.
Icebreaker One - Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator - £28k (4-day week, Mon-Thu) - Permanent - Totally remote
Icebreaker One’s mission is to make data work harder to enable us to live within planetary boundaries. We focus on sector- and market-scale data governance to reduce risk and increase the flow of money and resources into decarbonisation and nature-enhancing initiatives. Fundamental to the success of our programmes is that solutions are developed in collaboration with, by, and for the sectors we support. The Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator will support the Account Manager in maintaining and progressing a pipeline of stakeholder and client relationships, ensuring consistent and timely communication.
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