Hey CATs,

Welcome to issue 323 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

📍 Green IO Munich and other local news

#local-munich - Green IO Munich gathers +250 technologists from 8-9 July in the smartvillage Bogenhausen to learn and discuss around the theme "From measuring to achieving: industrializing IT Sustainability". CATs can attend for free, contact CAT Organizers @Georgina or @Jordan Voigt on Slack

In #local-uk L is wondering whether anyone is up for meeting at EMFcamp this year?

In #local-france B shared an event about genAI in the workplace taking place on July 9th

#️⃣ Slack channel highlights

#2-greener-tech: B was asking for a list of software that doesn't use AI and shared one such list too

#carbon-footprint: T is having doubts about how they work with their carbon footprint consultants and would appreciate a reality check / word of advice - more info in the thread

#green-teams: C shared M’s success story at work - from starting a green team to becoming sustainability lead

#greener-ai: P shared a project where VSCode users can track their AI emissions and T is looking for reports that plot AI models’ performance/benchmark scores compared to their energy use - know of some reports? Share them in the thread

📅 CAT events (see all)

Wed, Jul 8 - What I Know About Local Language Models: Evan Hahn shares a practical guide to running AI locally (part of the Responsible AI Series)

Wed, Jul 8 - Thu, Jul 9 - Green IO Munich in smartvillage Bogenhausen: CATs can attend for free, contact CAT Organizers @Georgina or @Jordan Voigt on Slackk

🍩 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, July 3rd. More info

Media, events, and news

▶️ CAT videos

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

PBS Terra: America’s Most TOXIC Site Could Be Worse Than CHERNOBYL

The clean energy transition and the A.I. revolution both need LOTS of land to succeed. Could this radioactive site half the size of Rhode Island be just what they need? Or is it a disaster waiting to happen?

🎤 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: Luis Blando Explains Why You Don't Need a Ferrari to Cross the Street

AI innovation is moving at breakneck speed, but are organizations keeping up?

Luis Blando (OutSystems' Chief Product and Technology Officer) argues that scaling AI isn't just about deploying expensive models, it’s a massive cultural transformation.

We explore the "terrible" tension between innovation and governance, why businesses just need a good old bicycle instead of a Ferrari to solve most problems, and how unlocking unstructured data is the secret to ending AI hallucinations.

Environment Variables: The Week in Green Software - The Green Side of Observability

This Week in Green Software, Kate is joined by Diana Todea to explore how observability can become more sustainable by designing systems with efficiency in mind. They discuss practical ways to cut costs and carbon emissions, avoid telemetry bloat, and build greener observability pipelines from the start. Treating observability as an architectural decision is key to creating more efficient and sustainable software systems.

Redefining Energy: European Sovereign Neocloud - Jun26

Gerard and Laurent welcome Michel Boutouil, co-founder and CEO of Polarise, a leading European AI infrastructure provider and NVIDIA Cloud Partner based in Berlin. After discussing about what happens outside of a datacenter, it is time to dive inside one.  

Zero, The Climate Race: Solar and batteries are thriving — even in Trump’s America

The common narrative is that the US renewables industry is struggling. But that’s not the case for the whole sector. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi talks with Kevin Smith, chief executive officer of Cypress Creek Energy, which recently secured $3.5 billion in financing to build one of the biggest solar and battery projects in the US. Even as the current American administration dismantles clean-energy policies, Smith sees a bright future for solar and batteries.

The New Stack: Public cloud vs. on-prem: Summit on where each workload belongs

On this episode of The New Stack Makers, Summit’s Byron Dill argues that many enterprises have become overly reliant on public cloud infrastructure, using it for workloads that may be better suited to private environments. Rather than treating the cloud as a one-size-fits-all solution, Dill advocates for a more segmented approach that places workloads where they make the most sense based on cost, security and management requirements.

Outrage + Optimism: Is It Over? A Direct Answer to Climate Despair

Is it already too late? If you follow the climate crisis closely, despair is a reasonable and rational response to what you're looking at.

Is there still hope, or is it over? If this civilisation ends, won't nature simply restore itself without us? How do you keep going when the grief feels total?

And - what can we actually do?

📅 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 Jul 08, 2026 - Green IO Munich

Green IO Munich gathers +250 technologists from 8- 9 July in the smartvillage Bogenhausen. Theme "From measuring to achieving: industrializing IT Sustainability".

CATs can attend for free, contact CAT Organizer Georgina [email protected] or Jordan Voigt on Slack

Thursday Jul 09, 2026 - Agilists4Planet Conference - Bridging Polarities: Harnessing the Power of Tension

In this free online conference, we explore how polarities—such as short vs. long term, pragmatic vs. principled, resilience vs. inaction, intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation, and emotional vs. rational thinking— are not problems to be solved, but dynamics to be balanced.

Wednesday Jul 15, 2026 - Where did all your tokens go?

Annie Freeman will talk about tracking AI token usage with telemetry and comparing performance of different prompting techniques to minimise token use and maximise value.

Tuesday Aug 04, 2026 - Make It Count: Sustainability Communication Workshop

Professionals from any sector can join Make it Count: Sustainability Communication Workshop.

Learn and put into practice the behavioural science behind making every sustainability conversation count!

📰 News Highlights

CarbonBrief: Introducing Project Cosmos

Carbon Brief’s Project Cosmos is a major collaborative effort to build the world’s largest and most complete database of climate change research.

The Cosmos database – which features more than 1.8m individual publications linked by 40m citation relationships – captures the vast body of human knowledge about climate change that has accumulated over more than a century of academic study.

Politico: London climate week disrupted by … the climate

Events at London Climate Action Week — one of the world’s biggest gatherings of green campaigners — have been disrupted by the heatwaves sweeping across the U.K. and much of Europe.

Organizers said some of the approximately 1,000 events planned across the capital have been called off, amid “one of the hottest periods ever in the U.K.”

Forbes: Why The AI Grid Is The New Battleground

The West's shift to digitized clean energy and AI's demands create a vast, vulnerable digital attack surface. Experts warn that hybrid warfare now involves constant infrastructure attacks. Decentralized renewables and AI's immense power needs push grids to their limits

CityAM: The companies leading on climate aren’t waiting for 2050

Climate action has quietly moved up the balance sheet from an area owned by a department to shaping strategic decisions and operational compliance. What was once treated as a reputational consideration is now embedded into how leading businesses plan, invest, grow and compete.

ThisDayLive: UNILAG, AFRETEC Push Green Software Engineering to Tackle Climate Change

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the African Engineering and Technology Network (AFRETEC), have stepped up efforts to promote environmentally responsible software development, with plans to integrate sustainability into software engineering curricula to equip future technology professionals with skills needed to address climate change and drive sustainable digital transformation.

Vegconomist: Study Finds AI Can Design Plant-Based Burgers with Better Nutrition and Lower Environmental Impact

A generative AI model trained on more than 2,200 burger recipes has produced new burger formulations designed to optimize taste, nutrition and environmental impact, according to a study published in npj Science of Food. The researchers say the system could help food developers navigate trade-offs that have long challenged plant-based product development.

ICTWorld: Hidden Climate Crisis Destroying Software Developer Productivity

While everyone debates if data centers are causing rising temperatures, a groundbreaking study from Bangladesh reveals heat doesn’t just slow down individuals. High temperatures destroy the collaborative advantage that makes teams twice as productive as solo workers.

💚 Papers We Love 💚

Digital Humanism: Catastrophic Computation. On the Impossibility of Sustainable Artificial Intelligence

This vpaper argues thatSustainable AI, in principle, cannot break the glass ceiling of transformation and might even distract from necessary societal change. It s aims to contribute to an informed academic and collective negotiation on how to (not) integrate AI into the sustainability project while avoiding to reproduce the status quo by serving hegemonic interests between useful AI use cases, techno-utopian salvation narratives, technology-centred efficiency paradigms, the exploitative and extractivist character of AI and concepts of digital degrowth.

💼 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.

Boundless Impact Research & Analytics - Research Associate - $20/hr - Permanent - Flexible - remote ok

Boundless Impact Research & Analytics provides precise life cycle and techno-economic impact data for advanced technology companies, sustainable brands, and investors. Our analytics validate and differentiate sustainable products, reduce investment risk, and support credible reporting. Boundless blends science-based impact analysis, industry-specific benchmarks, and AI-driven data to deliver the insights companies need to prove their impact and thrive in the market.

Boundless Impact Research & Analytics (Boundless) is seeking a full-time Research Associate with environmental analysis and research experience, and an interest in and aptitude for applying Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) to clean energy and other advanced technologies. The Research Associate will support the Boundless research team across sustainability performance analysis projects (using LCA and TEA).

Farmxic UK Limited - Multiple - 28000 - 35000 - Contract - Flexible - remote ok

At FarmXic UK Limited, we're building AI-powered tools that help farmers adapt to climate change while reducing the environmental footprint of food production.

Agriculture accounts for a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet farmers often lack access to real-time, data-driven tools to optimise soil health, water use, nutrient management, and climate resilience. Our flagship platform, SoilSense AI, combines environmental sensing, predictive analytics, and digital agronomy to help growers make better decisions that improve productivity while reducing resource waste and emissions.

By joining FarmXic, you're not just joining a startup—you're helping build digital infrastructure for climate-resilient agriculture and sustainable food systems, enabling farmers to produce more with fewer inputs and adapt to an increasingly unpredictable climate.

Farmxic UK Limited - 1 position - 28000 - 35000 - Contract - Flexible - remote ok

At FarmXic UK Limited, we're building AI-powered tools that help farmers adapt to climate change while reducing the environmental footprint of food production.

Agriculture accounts for a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet farmers often lack access to real-time, data-driven tools to optimise soil health, water use, nutrient management, and climate resilience. Our flagship platform, SoilSense AI, combines environmental sensing, predictive analytics, and digital agronomy to help growers make better decisions that improve productivity while reducing resource waste and emissions.

By joining FarmXic, you're not just joining a startup—you're helping build digital infrastructure for climate-resilient agriculture and sustainable food systems, enabling farmers to produce more with fewer inputs and adapt to an increasingly unpredictable climate.

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