🌍 CAT Newsletter 319 - 2026-06-07
Hey CATs,
Welcome to issue 319 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
😺 Town Hall recording (30mins)
In our Town Hall on Wednesday we heard from our three new Organisers Stephanie, Georgina, and Jordan, shared community stats and where CAT is heading and gave an overview of ongoing projects you can join. Find the meeting notes here.
The recording is available for the next 30 days with this link (Passcode: fSVrz5*6)
✋ Looking for more hands on deck
1 YEAR COMMITMENT: CAT Tech organizer description | Apply here
3-6 MONTHS COMMITMENT: Slack Moderator, Moderation Lead, Newsletter Editor, Blog Writer | Apply by posting in #cat-volunteer-interest
PROJECT BASED (learn more by rewatching our Town Hall - Passcode fSVrz5*6)
- Open Letter to Microsoft - reach out to @mrchrisadams
- GSF Working Group places - reach out to @Georgina
- CAT Wallet - reach out to @Georgina
ONE-OFF / RIGHT NOW
✍️ From the blog
In our last Responsible AI Series event we explored how AI teams can move beyond compliance and start asking better questions about who benefits, who might be affected, and how values can shape more responsible product decisions.
You can read more insights and key learnings from the workshop here
Our next event in this series is taking place online on Wednesday! RSVP here
📅 CAT events (see all)
Tue-Wed, Jun 9-10 - Opportunity to meet CATs at Green IO Amsterdam [in-person] - post in #local-netherlands if you'll be attending
Wed, Jun 10 - 'Everything, Everywhere, all at Once' - Understanding the Dynamics of the Environmental Impacts of AI [online]: Part of our Responsible AI series, speaker Chris Preist will present research exploring how environmental life cycle assessment at the micro level can help us better understand the wider environmental and energy impacts of AI at a global scale.
🍩 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, June 19th. More info
Media, events, and news
▶️ CAT videos
10-15 minute videos providing accessible explainers to climate related issues.
PBS Terra: We Saw What AI Data Centers Don't Want You to See
We investigated one of the world's largest AI data centers, using thermal drone footage to reveal the hidden pollution powering the AI boom. As companies race to build the future of artificial intelligence, residents and experts warn that fossil fuels, secrecy, and weak regulation may be putting communities at risk.
🎤 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!
The Clarity Mandate: Africa, China, AI & the Critical Minerals Race
Critical minerals are no longer just commodities — they are the hidden infrastructure of AI, batteries, semiconductors, national security, and global power.
In this urgent and deeply strategic episode of The Clarity Mandate Podcast, Dr. Vivian Atud sits down with Thomas Nadroski, author of Mineral Wars, to unpack one of the most consequential questions of our time: who will control the minerals, processing capacity, capital flows, and supply chains that shape the next global order?
Climate Curious: How to feed a starving glacier, with glaciologist M Jackson
Our glaciers are starving, but there's a solution! Says glaciologist, National Geographic Explorer and TED Fellow Dr. M Jackson on the Climate Curious podcast. In conversation with Maryam Pasha, M breaks down why our glaciers are currently starving and how they have the remarkable ability to grow back, if we give them the right conditions! From the "isostatic rebound" of the springing Earth, to 40 generations of human breath captured in an ice core, we hear why glaciers will not be lost to history. Recorded live at TED 2026.
Energ'ethic: The public square - Ewelina Hartstein, DG Energy
In 2024, after years of running hard to define the European Green Deal, the EU had finally caught what it was chasing, and seemed unsure what to do next.
Two years on,Ewelina Hartstein leads external communication at DG Energy and is one of the people responsible for staging EUSEW. We talk about the work behind the work: how DG Energy chooses what gets said, who gets to speak, and what remains off-stage at a moment when energy policy is entangled with affordability, security, and trust.
Deep Dives with DPI: Mining Demand, Innovation & Circular Economy with Kwasi Ampofo
In this episode of Voices of Transformation, DPI Executive Director Florence Drummond speaks with Kwasi Ampofo, a mining engineer and Head of Mining and Metals at BloombergNEF.
For seven years, Kwasi has helped clients understand what the energy transition means for mining supply, demand, and investment decisions, bringing both mining expertise and data-driven analysis to the global commodities challenge.
Redefining Energy: Climate Tech Reinvented, from green molecules to green electrons
Where is Climate Tech heading? Certainly not dead — but constantly reinventing itself. So much so that you begin to wonder whether the label itself has outlived its original meaning. \n\nLaurent and Gerard welcome Kim Zou, co-founder and CEO of Sightline Climate, the data and research platform mapping the climate-tech economy, and author of some of the sector's most influential newsletters, including CTVC and the newer Powerstack. Sightline has become essential reading for investors, utilities, corporates, and policymakers trying to understand where capital is flowing and how the energy system is evolving. \n\nTogether, they explore how Climate Tech has transformed over the past decade. Decarbonisation alone is no longer the central narrative. Today, AI, energy security, and industrial resilience dominate the conversation — often pushing sustainability itself into the background.
Asynchronous & Unreliable: How Did We Write an O'Reilly Tech Book? With Sara Bergman
Building Green Software: Insights from the Authors or How To Write an O'Reilly Book. This episode features Anne Currie and Sara Bergman discussing the journey of writing Building Green Software, the lessons learned, and the ongoing impact of eco-conscious software development in industry and academia. They share behind-the-scenes insights, the importance of collaboration, and practical advice for authors.
📅 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 Jun 09, 2026 - CiviCamp Birmingham
A practical one-day conference for anyone that uses or is interested in using CiviCRM (the open source CRM for non profits and similar). With a few sessions focused on case studies from sustainability and environmental charities - see https://brm2026.civicrm.org/sessions/
Thursday Jun 11, 2026 - Ask a Chief Product Officer -- Office Hours for Climate Tech Founders
Office hours for ClimateTech founders & CEOs navigating MVPs, traction, and early product-market fit. Get direct feedback from Renee Davis, Fractional CPO and 5x Head of Product with 16+ years scaling SaaS across startups, unicorns, and Fortune 500s.
Wednesday Jun 17, 2026 - Who's Going to Save Us From the Energy Use of AI? You Are.
Anne Currie will be speaking about the rising energy consumption of AI and the ways software practitioners can impact this on a local and global level.
Wednesday Jun 17, 2026 - NASA Space to Soil Pitch Event
Join us at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on June 17th. Finalist teams will present small satellite solutions for agriculture and forestry innovation as they compete for up to $400,000 in total prizes. 💰 The free event also features a panel and networking reception.
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.
Tuesday Jun 23, 2026 - Sustainable IT Impact Summit
Green IT isn't just compliance—it's a growth driver. At the 2026 Sustainable IT Impact Summit, leaders explore building the business case for sustainable IT, cutting costs via circular tech, deploying responsible AI, and turning sustainability into lasting business value.
📰 News Highlights
Verdict: What if building more grid capacity isn't the answer? Solving 'phantom compute' could address data centre efficiency
Phantom compute is theoretical compute power that only exists in infrastructure plans but is effectively 'phantom' capacity in the real world, says Hitachi Vantara's Simon Ninan.
National Catholic Reporter: Pope's AI encyclical lends church support to calls to slow rapid expansion of data centers
In Magnifica Humanitas, the pope spoke directly about data centers in a section where he warned the rapid and uncritical adoption of AI "exposes us to a range of risks, including the tendency to overlook the environmental impact."
DCD: Are tokens the only data center metric that matter in the age of AI?
Are PUE and WUE doomed to fall behind token efficiency as the only thing that's important?
ESG News: UN Report Warns AI's Water, Land and Climate Costs Are Rising Faster Than Governance
United Nations researchers are warning that the global race to scale artificial intelligence is creating a wider environmental burden than carbon reporting alone captures.
MSN: High-tech system alerts ships when whales enter busy shipping routes
A high-tech network near San Francisco Bay uses hydrophones and AI to detect whale vocalizations, sending near-instant alerts to ships to prevent collisions. The system exemplifies how AI and real-time data can aid wildlife conservation, helping vessels navigate safely while supporting coexistence between humans and marine life.
CityBiz: How Right-to-Repair Is Reshaping the Smartphone Repair Industry
As smartphones become more expensive and technologically sophisticated, consumers and businesses alike are rethinking the traditional upgrade cycle.
💚 Papers We Love 💚
Université de Grenoble: A Protocol to Address Ecological Redirection for Digital Practices in Organizations
The digitalization of societies raises questions about its sustainability and the socio-technical impacts it generates. Ecological redirection applied to organizations is a field of research aiming for achieving sustainability as a direction, rather than for technical means. Arbitration and renunciation to some digital usage and technologies are investigated. Ecological redirection is, however, not yet addressing concrete methodologies for its implementation in organizations. This paper therefore proposes a protocol to support stakeholders in the ecological redirection of their digital practices.
💼 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.
Verna - Head of Engineering - £Competitive + share options, commensurate with a senior role at a start-up - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok
Lead engineering at a fast-growing start-up, building software for nature recovery.
King's College London - Postdoctoral Research Associate in Human-Computer Interaction - £45,031 - £52,514 per annum - Contract - Flexible - remote ok
Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) position on the EPSRC project “User-centred Eco-feedback For AI’s Environmental Impact” led by KCL and in collaboration with partner organisations. This project will bring an empirical and human-centred perspective to the ongoing discourse on the environmental impact of AI systems, complementing and extending existing research which currently focuses on energy and water metrics and measurements.
Candidates should hold a PhD in HCI, Computer Science or a related discipline and demonstrate skills in sustainable computing, sustainable HCI and/or AI deployment. Experience in conducting participatory design research would be advantageous.
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