Why CAT remains important

Climate action at work and in tech is evolving and new topics have been emerging in our community. Both at the personal and at the company level, CATs are talking about #repair and #open-source to extend the life of devices and become independent from Big Tech. Secondly, AI is everywhere and the priority of building and selling AI is making it harder to get stuff done in Green Teams.

CAT remains a space outside of work where we can question things, try new stuff, and support each other in climate action.

2025 highlights

Projects to enable connection

On Slack #3-questions-and-ideas channel host Chris launched monthly themes to encourage conversations. This month’s theme is reflection and CATs are sharing practices that help them stay focussed as well as conversations/resources in the community that had the biggest impact on them this year. Join the conversation

For our #cat-roulette program (learn more) channel hosts Aram and Brett have also introduced themed rounds. So far CATs talked about climate careers, AI, and most recently we’ve also been reflecting on the year in our #cat-roulette matches.

We ran over 30 events this year! Highlights included…

• Responsible AI event series: We gathered online and in-person to explore what it means to design responsibly with AI. CAT volunteer Paolo summarised the first workshop on our blog.
• CAT book club: We read Digital Degrowth, Insolvent, and Moral Ambition. Help choose our next read and join the conversation in #cat-book-club
• CAT systems series: With workshops and conversations we zoomed out to a systems thinking level – mapping the current reality with causal loop diagrams, designing interventions and tackling wicked problems. Check out the blog post summaries from these events or join the conversation in #cat-systems-series
• CAT at Green IO: CATs joined the Green IO conferences in London, New York, and Paris and we also co-hosted the first ever hybrid talk: A day in the carbon life of an LLM prompt
• Local meet-ups: In Switzerland CATs organised another Hackathon this year and they are gathering regularly for informal in-person meet-ups. Join #local-switzerland to see details for the next meet-up. A new online gathering has also started for folks based in #local-india!

Projects to developed a shared understanding within and beyond CAT

This year we published the #EcoWeb report (download here) – the final outcome of a project that emerged organically in 2023. The report covers the work of 31 CATs who analysed the carbon footprint of 507 websites of organisations focussed on sustainability.

CAT volunteers Elisa and Jon brought conversations from our #climate-careers channel to our blog with climate career stories.

CAT volunteer Maggie has been ensuring that our newsletter filled with community news, events, podcasts, news highlights, and job listings goes out weekly to our 6,000 subscribers. This year we also automated some of our processes to make it easier for new volunteers to get involved. You can subscribe to our newsletter here or view our archive here.

And lastly, CAT volunteer Sid has been raising awareness on LinkedIn by sharing events and blog posts. You can follow CAT on LinkedIn here.

CAT structure updates

This year we welcomed in two new organisers

• Eugene – tech organiser – has contributed to automation, migrating to free and open source software and self-hosted tools, developing a Slack bot and dashboard to help us track our community health, and introduced OKRs to our planning process.
• Heather – event organiser – has re-joined the team to revitalise and expand CAT hosted and CAT sponsored events. She introduced our Responsible AI programme and her focus for next year is on developing an events team structure to ensure CAT volunteers and members can easily run events.

We also established our CAT Assembly which is a decision-making group that represents the general CAT community.

And we joined the Green Software Foundation to bring the wealth of our community knowledge into conversations with the larger enterprise community.

Member projects

Beyond official CAT projects our members take action in many ways to make the tech industry more sustainable. See what CATs were up to in our member PAWS (Projects, Actions, Wins, and Stuff we learned at CAT) presentation

Shout-outs

We are a 100% volunteer-run community and we couldn’t do this work without our volunteers. A big thank you to everyone who volunteered this year as well as our Assembly members.

And a big thank you to those who supported us financially this year with recurring or one-off donations via Open Collective. Your donations pay for the software we use (e.g. Zoom for events) as well as our Mini Grants.

What did you think of CAT in 2025?

Let us know by filling out our member survey!

Goals for 2026

In 2026 we want to expand our impact and we’re planning to…

1. Develop leaders in CAT
2. Activate CAT members to participate and take action
3. Push the industry

Help us achieve our goals in 2026

Move from dormant seed to active sprout with these easy actions

• Become an active community member by…
  • …starting and/or contributing to conversations on Slack and at events
  • …connecting to other CATs for meaningful dialogue or collaboration
  • …sharing knowledge, your lived experience, and/or resources
  • …highlighting any Community Principles or Code of Conduct violations
  • …taking climate action in your role (be that through greening your craft, speaking up, or advocating and influencing) and sharing back with the community
  • …sharing ideas for improving the community in #6-cat-community-feedback
• Donate via Open Collective
• Give feedback and share ideas for improving the community in our member survey

Take root & expand your branches by increasing your involvement

• Become a volunteer
• Apply for a mini grant (learn more about mini grants)

The post 2025 – Year in Review appeared first on ClimateAction.Tech.

The impact objectives of hosting regular meetups are:

• To communicate the critical need for climate action within the tech sector in India.
• To support each other on our individual climate tech journeys in India.
• To build a network of individuals passionate about or aspiring to bring sustainability in the tech sector, and also who want to develop or use tech to combat the climate crisis.

The objective of this first meetup was to map the climate tech landscape of India. We held a virtual event in order to include participants from all regions of India, and used Miro as a platform to co-create this landscape.

About the participants

We were a small, but diverse group from regions across India, including Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh, Orai and Goa. We were brought together by an interest in digital sustainability. In a poll, participants cited personal passion, innovation and sustainability as motivators to be part of the meetup. Solving global challenges and contributing to community impact also emerged as significant factors.

We shared our feelings regarding our emotional responses to the climate crisis. Despite many feeling concerned, guilty, skeptical, scared, or angry about the world’s current state,  optimism emerged when discussing climate action. Collectively, we acknowledged the multifaceted emotions surrounding the current reality. We also recognised how a simple action, such as participating in a beach cleanup drive, cultivates a sense of belonging. As a result, everyone agreed that climate action empowers us to build resilience in our responses to climate change.

Our vision for India’s future 

The primary activity in the workshop was a discussion on the current landscape of climate tech and digital sustainability. A Miro board with pre-built categories roughly representing the current landscape was used. We shared how our current roles fit into this landscape, what our vision is, and where we aspired to be in the future. The meetup gave all of us an opportunity to discuss our concerns. It also provided a space to talk about our individual expertise such as computational geometry, data science, systems thinking, product development, agri tech, etc., that can help with solving climate change, Each one of us contributed to one or more of the following categories where we felt our individual expertise best fit: 

Green software and infrastructure (Software designed for efficiency, green websites, renewable energy management, smart grids, etc.)

We explored the need for data awareness and metrics on resource utilization, along with the emphasis of technical architecture design with a focus on sustainability. We acknowledged that we could achieve this through regular workshops and collaborations.

Green AI and ML (AI for climate modeling, carbon footprint analysis, sustainable agriculture)

To help build resilience against climate change, we discussed the use of Green AI and ML for flood and heat-risk forecasting in every district as well as for creating robust public infrastructure. As Indian agricultural soils face deep stress due to changing weather patterns, tech is needed to support intentional agriculture by providing spatially-aware data, soil-type-specific guidance. This should be driven by Satellite Data (Sentinel / Landsat) that can generate farmer usable insights for pest outbreak early warnings, evapotranspiration estimation, and irrigation scheduling.

As rainfall becomes more unpredictable and heatwaves increase, we investigated how AI could be used for flood and heat-risk forecasting in local areas. We also recognised the need for AI to be applied thoughtfully, with projects chosen based on their positive environmental impact compared to their carbon footprint.

Tech ethics and policy (Addressing bias in algorithms, data privacy for climate data, regulatory frameworks)

We envisioned a future where technology is used ethically and sustainability is the guiding principle. There was consensus that tech must empower individuals and organizations to create valuable products that operate on sustainable energy. 

Agritech & Food Systems (Precision farming, vertical farming, reducing food waste)

We imagined a future for India where tech is applied to bring efficiency in crop/food production and consumption as more than 30% food goes to waste. We aspired for roles to raise awareness and designing/optimizing supply chain and last mile connectivity. We also spoke about ways to work around regulations.

Climate Education & Awareness (Tech-driven learning platforms, engaging content creation)

We discussed the importance of promoting day-to-day sustainability practices and increasing access to credible sustainable products. We recognised that a healthy, livable, and sustainable planet is crucial for India’s future. Our aspired role was to act as Climate Problem Communicators and Problem Solvers, working together with local communities to raise awareness..

Sustainable Design & Circular Economy (Product lifecycle analysis, waste reduction tech)

From addressing clothing waste management to water conservation, we explored the roles we could play in implementing sustainable solutions.

ESG (Designing software for ESG reporting)

Since climate action tech isn’t just about using tech for climate action but also about employing it responsibly and making it sustainable, we recognised the need to publish the carbon footprint of tech used within an organization. We also agreed that the ESG sector should incorporate this information into their reporting. One way of doing this is by raising awareness through workshops focused on the importance of creating sustainable tech.

Climate Action (Tech for sustainability and sustainability for tech)

We all agreed that it’s not just about tech but also about making people responsible for their local communities, which can help in reducing emissions at the source. By bringing discussions on climate change to local neighborhoods, we hope to inspire action. We believe this can be achieved through collaboration and climate action.

During the discussion, we explored not only tech solutions but also examined the current reality through a systemic lens of governance, policy, social norms, etc. We collectively agreed that policy and governance, coupled with technological interventions, are essential. This insightful exchange has motivated us to hold regular meetings, utilizing systems thinking as a primary tool. We eagerly anticipate increased participation from individuals in the tech sector at future gatherings.

Testimonials

Coming next

Join us for the second workshop on December 13, 2025, as we go deeper into the climate tech landscape. Register now to secure your spot.

A special thank you to Vivek Vaddina for helping us plan the meetup. Thank you to all the participants who could join us in our very first meetup. Many thanks to Melissa Hsiung for editing the blog, and to our volunteers from the CAT community for their support.

Not a member yet? Join the CAT community to learn about similar events in the future.

Keep an eye out on on Slack (#4-cat-events) or Luma for more upcoming online CAT events and find your #local channel on Slack for future in-person gatherings. And if you’re interested in helping organise CAT meetups in your region, reach out to one of the organisers and become an official CAT volunteer.

The post India Meetup: Navigating climate tech landscape of India appeared first on ClimateAction.Tech.

I’ve spent the past few years sitting in the space between technology and responsibility. It’s an awkward but important place to be, especially right now. On one side, there’s the speed and excitement of building things that reach millions. On the other, there’s the quiet work of making sure what we build doesn’t come at the expense of people, or the planet.

At ustwo, where I lead sustainability and corporate responsibility, we’ve long believed that good design can make the world a bit better. That belief is what led me to start questioning what “responsible” really means in the age of AI and to wonder how this technology fits within a B Corp mindset. How do we measure the invisible costs of training new models? What do we owe to the communities and ecosystems affected by our digital choices? And how do we balance innovation with care?

The truth is, AI isn’t just another tool. It’s a mirror. It reflects the values, blind spots, and assumptions of the people who build and use it. We can’t expect responsibility to come from regulation alone or from big tech publishing glossy reports. It all starts with us: the designers, developers, strategists, and leaders who bring these systems to life. We’re the ones in the room when decisions get made, shaping how AI shows up in the world.

The most important thing I’ve learned at ustwo in the past 9 years is that staying human in this fast-changing landscape means asking better questions. Who benefits? Who’s left out? What’s the real cost behind the convenience we’re creating? What tools are we missing to measure our impact? This is not about mastering AI, but keeping curiosity alive to drive positive change.

The workshop

Together with ClimateAction.tech, we brought together around fifty people from design, development, and strategy for a workshop called Designing Responsibly in the Age of AI. It was part reflection, part reality check. A space to pause and ask what responsibility looks like when technology starts to think alongside us. The session invited industry professionals to explore their own influence, reflect on their craft, and connect their design decisions to their wider impact on people and the planet.

Design holds a quiet power here. Every word, every interface, every technical choice shapes how people experience and trust these systems. That kind of influence doesn’t live only in research labs or boardrooms, but belongs to everyone building what comes next.

During the workshop, seven themes emerged. These themes were centred on values that people want to hold on to and integrate into the design of AI. Here they are, ordered by how strongly they resonated across the group: 

Transparency builds trust

The word that came up most in the breakout discussions was transparency. People want clarity about what’s happening behind the interface, how AI makes decisions, where data comes from, and what the trade-offs are. When things are clear, people lean in, they stop feeling manipulated, and start feeling informed. The problem is that most digital products still hide their data-hungry logic behind smooth copy and friendly tone. Honest design can do better than that and help people see what’s really going on, without overwhelming them.

Curiosity drives sustainability

Sustainability was also a topic that was important to participants. And not just in the environmental sense, but in how we think, plan, and build products. AI looks weightless, yet it runs on vast networks of servers that burn through energy and resources. Many participants described a mindset of impact awareness, pausing to ask who benefits from their work and who/what gets left behind. That kind of curiosity is important and changes things. Once you start tracing the chain of cause and effect, you can’t unsee it. You start to question your defaults, and in the best-case scenario, curiosity turns sustainability from a buzzword into a habit.

Accountability belongs to everyone

Responsibility came up again and again throughout the session. People spoke about moments where they’d challenged a rushed decision, questioned a data source, or opened a conversation others might have avoided. No one in the group wanted to wait for new policies to appear. They wanted to act now in project meetings, in design critiques, in everyday choices. Still, there are clear barriers to putting this into action. Many felt that accountability often gets lost in shared ownership (when everyone is responsible, it can start to feel like no one really is). Others mentioned the usual suspects: deadlines, delivery pressure, or the sense that their influence stops at a certain level. What people asked for most wasn’t motivation, but structure, ways to track decisions, reflect as a team, and make accountability visible in the work itself.

Bias has a quiet, big power

Bias is at the heart of responsible design, yet it often hides in plain sight. Many people in the group admitted they notice bias most clearly when it’s personal, when a dataset excludes them or when a system misrepresents something they care about. What stood out was how bias hides quietly in defaults, assumptions, and language. And it slips through when deadlines take over or when teams all think the same way. Talking about bias can be uncomfortable, but it’s also where change starts. Recognising it doesn’t mean we failed, but that we’re paying attention.

Community makes it real

Community turned out to be the glue holding all these values together. Collaboration was mentioned many times, with people sharing stories, comparing mistakes, and figuring things out together. At the end of the session, many participants made commitments to share knowledge through everyday conversations with teammates, project partners, and clients. That’s how responsible design spreads. One chat, one question, one act of care and generosity at a time.

Technology serves humanity

While transparency, sustainability, and accountability dominated, other values surfaced quietly too, such as empathy, learning, courage, and fairness. People spoke about workers’ dignity, justice in benefit-sharing, and the need for public oversight in how AI is used. These reflections carried real depth, highlighting the human side of responsibility that so easily gets overshadowed by metrics and progress. They touched on how we treat one another, how we share knowledge, and how we make room for care in systems built for speed. Put simply, they all pointed to the same truth: technology should serve humanity, not the other way around.

Conclusion: Responsibility gives us agency

AI reflects the people who build and use it so, if we want it to serve humanity, we need to act like humans, questioning, experimenting, and caring. The influence we each hold may feel small, but it compounds. Our choices, such as the language we use, the systems we shape, the energy we consume, ripple outwards. And when we work collectively, those ripples start to look a lot like change.

Continue the conversation in our #greener-ai Slack channel! To join future Responsible AI events, subscribe to our calendar on Luma or Google.

The post Designing Responsibly in the Age of AI appeared first on ClimateAction.Tech.

The apidays conference brings together stakeholders in IT and tech seeking to learn about the latest trends and developments in the API industry. Just like last year, the Green IO podcast (hosted by CAT member Gaël Duez) partnered with apidays to bring a focus on sustainability – offering talks and sharing knowledge and tools at the dedicated booths, all under the banner of Green IO London.

Members of the CAT community spoke about climate & tech on stage, promoted the community at our shared booth, and got the chance to meet each other in person.

Take-aways from the sustainability talks

The Green IO room was packed all day long, demonstrating the rising interest in climate action. Here are a few of our learnings.

1. We must address the climate impact of AI

Right from the outset, Anne Currie set the tone for the day with her talk Forget SkyNet, will the energy consumption of AI destroy humanity?, and there wasn’t a single talk that didn’t at least mention AI. The energy consumption of power-hungry AI models is accelerating rapidly, and addressing this is essential. Anne argues we need an acceleration of renewable energy production to match the increased demand, as well as creative thinking. Efficiency savings alone are not enough.

2. Embedding digital sustainability within large organisations can have an out-sized impact

We heard from representatives from government departments on how measures such as sustainable approaches to procurement of digital infrastructure can create surprisingly large carbon savings and reduce e-waste. Others talked about how Gov.uk’s AI Playbook aims to embed responsible AI use, ensuring employees understand its impact and ethical issues. For large organisations such as these, which employ thousands of people and reach millions of users, driving cultural change has real power.

3. Good for the planet can also be good for business

A theme of the conference was the question “Good for business, good for the planet?”, inviting the speakers and audience to explore this question. Natalie Pullin from HSBC showed that setting and working towards ambitious Net Zero targets for how the company buys, ships, and uses digital devices and tools, results in real business benefits. Others showed that we can learn lessons from other sectors like the finance sector, and implement green measures (such as using smaller AI models that are more suitable for certain tasks) that also lead to cost savings.

4. We need creativity more than ever

We need novel, creative approaches to solving the problem of increased energy and water use from data centres. Charlie Beharrell from Heata and CAT member Mark Buss from Ovo demonstrated how we can (quite literally) think outside the box by using the heat energy that is wasted from data centres to heat water for homes. CAT member Dryden Williams from CarbonRunner also talked about how energy can be saved by shifting development workflows (compute) to different locations according to green energy availability.

Elsewhere, CAT member Ismael Velasco surprised us all with a moving, impromptu live performance, proving that art and creativity is a vital tool for spurring climate action, one that we should never lose sight of.

5. We need to think systematically

Claire Robinson and CAT member Ben Tongue (from Transform and the NHS respectively) argued that when thinking about sustainability, we also need to think about adaptation to increasingly frequent climate events. This was illustrated by their case study of a major power failure caused by a heatwave at a busy NHS hospital, which had a catastrophic impact on patients. They demonstrated that we cannot just consider these problems in isolation: an incident like this has knock-on effects for many systems beyond just the ones on the front line.

We also need to think about how interconnected systems can work together on solutions. Later in the day, CAT member and volunteer Hannah Smith discussed the Green Web Foundation’s proposal for carbon.txt, a new and universal way to increase transparency of companies’ sustainability reporting.

6. Consider your red lines

To round off the thought-provoking day, Ian Brooks asked us to consider not just the impact of our digital activities, but their purpose too. Beyond just greening the tech we have, we need to think about its wider impact and who it is serving.

Highlights from the booth & hallway

At the booth, we spent the day introducing attendees to climate tech communities and resources, and quizzing them on digital sustainability. We challenged their existing knowledge on carbon emissions from digital services, e-waste, and data center resource use. We were excited to see how receptive participants were to the new information, sharing in their shock and intrigue the extent to which our digital lives have scaled at the cost of the environment.

It was also great to share our booth and chat with members of other organisations with similar missions, such as Planet on Stage, Design Declares, and Climate Fresk. And we took particular delight in getting to meet so many fellow CATs in person! It can be disheartening and isolating at times to work on climate action and push for change in our companies, and moments like these show us we’re part of a growing community that is capable of having a profound impact on the industry at large.

Many thanks to our volunteers from the CAT community and special thanks to Michelle Barker, Chris Pointon, Elisa Escapa, and Siddesh Wagle for writing, editing, and publishing this post!

Let us know if you were there by sharing your insights and photos in #local-uk.  

Not a member yet? Join the CAT community to learn about similar events in the future. Keep an eye out on on Slack (#4-cat-events) or Luma for more upcoming online CAT events and find your #local channel on Slack for future in-person gatherings. And if you’re interested in helping organise CAT meetups in your region, reach out to one of the organisers and become an official CAT volunteer.

The post ClimateAction.tech joins Green IO London at the apidays conference appeared first on ClimateAction.Tech.

On Thursday, September 11th, the CAT community gathered for the latest installment of the systems thinking workshop series, “Identifying Wicked Problems in Tech”.  Together we understood what constitutes wicked problems in technology, how to define them, and methods for examining them from different perspectives. The purpose was to create a space where we could: 

• ​Collaborate to identify and articulate specific wicked problems plaguing the tech landscape.
• Unravel the nature of wicked problems in tech.

This workshop set the stage for future events dedicated to individual wicked problems and exploring innovative, systemic solutions within our series on Systems Change for Sustainable Tech. The workshop also provided everyone the opportunity to:

• ​Engage in discussions, brainstorming, and collective problem-solving.
• ​Apply tools of systems thinking to real world problems.
• ​Connect with like-minded individuals invested in responsible tech development.
• ​Be part of an ongoing exploration towards sustainable solutions using systems thinking.

If you would like to be a part of the next co-creation systems series, join the #cat-systems-series channel on Slack.

Creating the Miro board

The Miro board was designed to maximize co-creation. It was segmented into the following sections:

• Our tech ecosystem (Where do we fit?): We positioned ourselves in a Venn diagram encompassing three circles – technology, process and people/society. It was interesting to observe that most of us situated ourselves in the intersections of technology and people/society.
• Defining wicked problems: This section explored various ways to define wicked, problems along with their inherent properties.
• Listing wicked problems: This space was utilized to list problems that we perceived as wicked, analyzing them through multiple lenses.

Defining wicked problems

We used the definition given in Wikipedia: “a wicked problem is a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. It refers to an idea or problem that cannot be fixed, where there is no single solution to the problem; “wicked” does not indicate evil, but rather resistance to resolution.”

We emphasised the following aspects of wicked problems:

• “Wicked” does not indicate true nature.
• Wicked problems stem from numerous interconnected causes, making pinpointing root issues challenging.
• Addressing one aspect might inadvertently create new problems within the complex system.
• Understanding and managing wicked problems is more effective than seeking a singular “fix.”

We then looked at the properties of wicked problems which are given by design theorist Horst W. J. Rittel and city planning professor Melvin M. Webber:

• There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem.
• Wicked problems are often ongoing.
• Solutions to wicked problems are not true or false, good or bad.
• There is no immediate and no ultimate test of a solution to a wicked problem.
• All attempts to find solutions have effects that may not be reversible.
• Wicked problems do not have a set of solutions.
• Every wicked problem is essentially unique.
• Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem.
• There are many explanations for wicked problems.
• There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers.

Listing wicked problems

The workshop shifted to a brainstorming activity, focusing on identifying wicked problems through diverse lenses. We all listed not more than three problems we perceived as “wicked” and analyzed them using the following categories:

• Environmental
• Cultural
• Economic
• Social
• Ideological
• Psychological
• Geo-politics
• Ethical
• Gender
• Technological
• Legal
• Infrastructural
• Historical
• Human rights
• Health

We placed sticky notes representing our chosen wicked problems on the board, strategically surrounding them with the relevant lenses we believed contributed to the problem’s complexity.

To illustrate this exercise, we dissected the example of AI crawlers through multiple perspectives:

• Environmental: The substantial carbon footprint generated by AI crawlers pulling information from the internet, contributing to the energy-intensive training of Large Language Models (LLMs) in data centers with high energy and water consumption.
• Economic: The strain on websites like Wikipedia due to bandwidth depletion caused by AI crawler activity, impacting their resources.
• Technological: The development and implementation of technologies aimed at optimizing and blocking AI crawlers to mitigate their impact.
• Legal: The lack of robust legal frameworks adequately addressing the ethical sourcing of information by AI crawlers.
• Infrastructural: The immense pressure placed on internet infrastructure to accommodate the growing volume of data processed by AI crawlers.

The workshop discussion uncovered a compelling list of wicked problems plaguing our tech ecosystem. We analyzed these challenges, assigning relevant lenses to understand their complexities and intersectionality:

Thinking in systems continues

Collaborating on understanding wicked problems gives us hope that there is a community who cares enough to dare to start solving the wicked problems. We hope this workshop is just a start of bringing the ClimateAction.Tech community to come together to think about systemic problems and design fundamental solutions to make this world a better place. We’d love to continue this journey of co-creation in the CAT community.

Acknowledgements: A special thank you to Jon Sleeper for co-creating the workshop structure. Special appreciation also goes to Melissa Hsiung and Heather Baden for their dedication and support throughout the workshop planning. A huge thank you to all the CAT members whose insightful contributions made this event truly enriching. Finally, heartfelt gratitude to Elisa Escapa for her thoughtful editing, making the content more relatable and engaging for all.
 

References:

The content of the workshop was designed using the following resources:

• Wicked problem (wikipedia) 
• What are wicked problems by Jane Johnson, Robyn Gulliver[
• Chapter 6, Wicked Problems
• Cynefin framework by Dave Snowden, released under CC-BY-SA-3.0
• Wicked problems: How to engineer a better world by Guru Madhavan
• How crawlers impact the operations of the Wikimedia projects

The post Thinking in systems: Recap of identifying wicked problems in tech workshop appeared first on ClimateAction.Tech.

Clifton Reddy is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a British Computer Society (BCS) Fellow, and community Organizer & Champion for the Houston chapter of the Green Software Foundation.

How did you get started and what changes did you make in your career to work in this space?

As a software engineer and technology leader with over 24 years in the field, my work has always centered around designing mission-critical enterprise solutions. But one question quietly transformed the direction of my professional journey: Which programming language consumes the least amount of resources? This seemingly simple curiosity led me into the world of green software.

In my search, I stumbled across a research paper exploring the resource efficiency of different languages. That paper lit a spark. Soon after, I discovered the Green Software Foundation (GSF) and quickly became involved with its mission to reduce software carbon intensity. What began as a personal research project evolved into a professional calling.

Today, I proudly serve as the Organizer of the Houston Chapter Meetup for the Green Software Foundation, and have been elevated to the title of Champion for my continued advocacy work. From organizing community events to speaking at universities and conferences, I’ve worked to integrate sustainable practices into the broader tech conversation.

What challenges have you faced in making this transition? How did you get started and what changes did you make in your career to work in this space?

My journey has been far from linear or easy. Sustainability is not always a top-line concern for companies that prioritize profit margins. Rather than push for an immediate overhaul, I adopted a different approach: education and advocacy.

Through guest lectures at the University of Houston, University of Houston–Clear Lake, and upcoming sessions with Texas A&M University, I’ve been fostering a grassroots-level understanding of sustainable software principles among students and faculty. Similarly, I’ve begun internal initiatives within my organization to pilot tools from the Green Software Foundation, focusing on reducing carbon intensity in our CI/CD pipelines.

What is a climate career to you?

Academic and Technical Contributions

My commitment to sustainable innovation isn’t limited to talks. I’ve actively contributed to research papers and scholarly publications, including:

• “ML-Driven Dynamic Optimization for Energy-Efficient Software Execution” presented at ICISS 2025 (DOI: 10.1109/ICISS63372.2025.11076275)
• “A Sustainable AI Framework for Efficient Software Systems” published by Springer Nature
• Speaker at the International Conference on Engineering Horizons organized by SRM Madurai

In addition to my academic efforts, I’ve filed a patent focused on modular and hardware-efficient scientific computing – US 63/816,306, which reduces e-waste and carbon emissions by promoting reusability and system longevity.

Creating a Movement, Not Just a Moment

This work is about more than personal recognition—it’s about fostering a mindset shift within the tech community. I’ve written thought pieces such as:

• Green Software Practices: A Guide for IT Leaders
• Conf42 Talk – Green Software in the Real World
• FITP Recap – Building Better Tech Careers

I’m also frequently consulted by organizations and open source teams to review and validate their sustainability strategies.

Looking Forward: A Vision for Greener Innovation

We’re just getting started. My goal is to normalize sustainable software design as a best practice—not a fringe concern. By weaving green software principles into business process architecture, DevOps, cloud migrations, and education, we can create scalable, energy-efficient digital ecosystems.

Any advice you’d like to share with others on their own climate journeys?

Sustainability in tech is not an ideal. It’s an imperative. And through collaboration, innovation, and continued advocacy, we can make it the new standard.

You can connect with Clifton on LinkedIn and read more about his work on his GSF Champions profile.

If you’re interested in contributing, we invite you to share your own story on #climate-careers or reach out to Elisa or Jon on Slack for guidance.

The post Climate Careers: Clifton Reddy appeared first on ClimateAction.Tech.

The Environmental Cost of Digital Domination

A handful of corporations control our digital infrastructure while consuming massive amounts of energy and water with AI and sprawling data centers. With this energy consumption comes pollution from mining, shipping, and burning coal, oil, and gas and the climate and health outcomes associated with these industries. 

Data centers require massive cooling systems. Tech companies’ water usage has jumped dramatically in recent years, largely due to AI development. In drought-stricken regions, these facilities compete directly with communities for scarce water resources.

The pollution extends beyond carbon emissions. The rare earth minerals required for servers and chips are extracted through environmentally destructive mining operations. E-waste from constantly upgraded hardware creates toxic landfills in developing nations.

The Solution: Open Source

Open-source software represents something revolutionary: technology built by people, for people. Unlike proprietary platforms designed to extract value, open-source tools serve users’ actual needs, and often do so with dramatically lower environmental impact.

Open source means:

• Transparency: See exactly what software does with your data
• Community Control: Development guided by users, not advertisers
• True Ownership: Modify, share, and control your own data
• Privacy by Design: Many alternatives prioritize your privacy over data collection
• Environmental Efficiency: Distributed computing reduces the need for massive centralized data centers, and open-source code often has more options for sustainable customization.
• Longer Hardware Lifecycles: Open-source software often runs efficiently on older hardware, reducing e-waste

Let’s Take Collective Action!

Viable alternatives exist for virtually every Big Tech service. Digital sovereignty starts with individual choices but leads to collective liberation and environmental healing.

When you choose decentralized, open-source alternatives, you’re not just protecting your privacy and autonomy. You’re reducing demand for the energy-hungry infrastructure that’s accelerating climate change. You’re supporting software that can run on your own hardware instead of requiring massive server farms.

Every person who chooses open-source over extractive tech is voting for a different digital future, one where your data belongs to you, innovation serves human needs, technology empowers communities rather than concentrating power, and our digital lives don’t come at the expense of our planet’s future.

What is one Big Tech service you could replace this week? Start there and help build the future we deserve, free from digital feudalism and sustainable for generations to come.

If you’re not a member of ClimateAction.tech, fill out this form to join.

Ariel Chamberlain (they/them) owns Octopus Pond Consulting, where they empower organizations that are helping people and the planet with Data Strategy, Quality, Analysis and Storytelling. Ariel is also a Community Leader at IMMA Collective and is serving as one of CAT’s first Assembly Members. They initially joined our community in 2023 when CAT launched the Climate Justice Squads.

The post The Environmental Cost of Digital Domination and Open Source Alternatives appeared first on ClimateAction.Tech.

The internet is an invisible yet essential part of modern life — but its environmental impact often goes unnoticed. As more organizations commit to climate action, one key question emerges: Is our digital presence helping the cause, or quietly adding to the problem?

To answer this question, we’re excited to release the #EcoWeb Report 2025, a benchmark of digital emissions of organizations in the climate space. Conducted by a team of 31 international volunteers through the ClimateAction.tech community, the #EcoWeb project analyzed the carbon footprint of 507 websites of organizations focused on sustainability. The results represent one of the first sector-wide benchmarks of digital emissions among climate action organizations — and serve as a call to action for anyone involved in building or managing digital tools and content online.

[Download the #EcoWeb Report 2025]
[Download the #EcoWeb Infographic 2025]

Why Website Emissions Matter?

The ICT sector accounts for up to 4% of global carbon emissions — more than the aviation industry — and its share is rising significantly. Every website, whether a simple homepage or a multimedia-rich platform, consumes energy with every visit. Each time someone visits a website, energy is consumed through data transfer, processing, and display. Therefore, cutting website emissions should no longer be viewed as a nice-to-have technical improvement, but as a meaningful step toward achieving digital sustainability goals.

How Did We Do It?

The #EcoWeb project used Ecograder, powered by The Green Web Foundation’s co2.js, and Google Lighthouse. With these tools CO₂ emissions, page weight, content breakdown, and hosting type were measured. By analyzing each site’s homepage with a consistent methodology, the report offers a reliable, actionable benchmark.

To get a bigger picture of the digital impact of the websites we analyzed, we looked beyond their carbon emissions. Our study examined several important factors, including page weight, a detailed breakdown of content types (such as images, media, scripts, and HTML/CSS), and the green hosting status of each provider. By combining these insights, we were able to identify key patterns, highlight effective strategies, and uncover best practices for reducing the environmental footprint of digital platforms.

What Did We Find?

The average homepage analyzed emits 1.87g of CO₂ per visit. While this might seem small, multiplied by thousands of visits a day, it adds up quickly. Emissions ranged from just 0.01g for the best-performing websites to over 21g for the least optimized. The figure below illustrates the strong disparity between the top 10% of best-performing websites and the bottom 10%, with the top 10% emitting up to 30 times less CO₂ per visit compared to the bottom 10% (Fig. 1). This wide range highlights the significant potential for improvement and the impact that thoughtful design and optimization can have on reducing a website’s carbon footprint.

To take it even further, we also examined the websites’ page weight, which is directly linked to the carbon emissions per visit. Larger page sizes require more data to be transferred, resulting in higher energy consumption. In our sample, page weights varied dramatically, ranging from just 0.11 MB to a staggering 58.88 MB. While most websites clustered toward the lower end, a small number of exceptionally heavy pages skewed the overall distribution.

Another interesting finding was that the 10% of websites with the lowest carbon emissions have an average page weight of 0.76 MB, while the 10% of websites with the highest carbon emissions have an average page weight 21.46 MB (Fig. 2). On average, pages weighed in at 5.7 MB—equivalent to streaming around 30 seconds of high-quality video—highlighting opportunities to optimize and reduce digital carbon footprints.

The breakdown of page weight reveals that images are by far the largest contributor, making up nearly half of the total (47%). Media files and scripts follow, accounting for 19% and 20% respectively. Given that the majority of page weight comes from images and media, even small improvements in their optimization could lead to substantial reductions. In comparison, HTML/CSS and other assets have a smaller impact—contributing 4% and 10% respectively— but still present additional opportunities for optimization (Fig. 3).

Extending our focus from page design to infrastructure, our analysis also included hosting. The hosting data across the 507 websites reveals an encouraging trend: 65% of them are hosted on green platforms powered by renewable energy. However, 35% still rely on non-green hosting, and for 1% of sites, hosting information was unavailable, indicating a small transparency gap (Fig. 4).

While website owners have limited control over the energy consumed by telecom networks or end users, they can influence the environmental impact of their site by choosing a green hosting provider. Switching to verified green hosting supports data centers that use cleaner, low-carbon energy sources, helping to drive the transition to a more sustainable internet for everyone.

In summary, our analysis reveals both challenges and clear opportunities for reducing the digital carbon footprint within the climate sector. The report identifies clear differences between top performing sites and those lagging behind, and shows how content, hosting, and other design choices all play a role in the digital carbon footprint of a website. Thoughtful design choices, optimizing media content, and selecting green hosting providers can collectively make a significant impact. By adopting these best practices, organizations can help build a more sustainable web that truly supports climate action.

What’s Next, and Why You Should Read the Report?

#EcoWeb doesn’t just reveal the numbers, it also points the way forward. The full report offers:

• Data to inspire change.
• Insights into why hosting and design choices matter.
• Guidance on how to track and reduce your own digital emissions.
• Practical steps to make your website greener.

Whether you manage a website, work in digital strategy, or just want to understand your online impact, the #EcoWeb Report 2025 is packed with insights and actions you can benefit from.

[Download the full #EcoWeb Report 2025] and discover how digital sustainability can drive real climate progress.

[Download the #EcoWeb Infographic 2025] and share it to help spread the word about sustainable digital practices.

Together, we can build a web that works for people, and the planet!

The post #EcoWeb Report 2025: Benchmarking Digital Sustainability in the Climate Sector appeared first on ClimateAction.Tech.

On Thursday, June 19th, the CAT community gathered for the third installment of our series, Systems Change for Sustainable Tech. The series introduced how systems thinking can be used to map the current reality using causal loop diagrams, identify leverage points, and design fundamental solutions. The purpose behind the series was to provide a space where participants can: 

• Build a shared vision to make tech sustainable.
• Learn and apply systems thinking to map current reality and identify the leverages where interventions will give maximum benefit.
• Co-create effective interventions to reduce the gap between the vision and current reality.

During this session, we revisited the fundamentals of systems thinking and collaboratively explored two systems change projects. We explored the potential of mindful technology integration and the power of technology to drive equity and well-being. For each project, we built an iceberg model, created causal loop diagrams, identified key leverage points, and designed fundamental interventions.

Our primary objective in this session was to map the current reality using a causal loop diagram (CLD). Consequently, it was crucial for us to understand the two types of feedback loops in CLDs, namely reinforcing and balancing feedback loops. Reinforcing loops amplify change, leading to exponential growth or decline. For example, in a bank account, interest earned increases the balance, which then earns more interest, leading to exponential growth.  Balancing loops counteract change, seeking stability and equilibrium. For example, a thermostat regulates temperature by turning the heater or air conditioner on or off to maintain a desired state. 

If you would like to be a part of the next co-creation systems series, join the #systems-series channel on Slack.

Revisiting the basics of systems thinking

The best part of the CLDs is that they spark conversations. A participant noticed the Jevons paradox in balancing feedback loops, especially related to efficiency gains due to technological advances, which led to discussions around why one should be critical of efficiency gains. The CLDs showed us that improving efficiency doesn’t necessarily lead to reduced resource consumption; it often leads to increased consumption due to behavioral adaptation.

Systems change project example: Mindful integration of technology

To comprehensively understand the entire systems change process, we looked at an illustration of mindful technology development.

In system change projects, you begin with a vision statement. This illustration commenced with: ‘In 2035, individuals intentionally and mindfully integrate technology into their lives, prioritizing well-being, meaningful connection, and real-world engagement. Technology serves as a tool to enhance, not dominate, human experience.”

Next, you need a primary focus area to comprehend the current reality. For this illustration, we used “The increasing time spent online.” 

From there, you use the iceberg model to organize the events, patterns, systems structures and the mental models relating to the focus area. Below is an example: 

Causal loop diagram:

The iceberg model helps us to discover the key variables and relationships that should be included in a CLD. The  CLD can then be used to model the dynamics of the system identified in the iceberg model, helping us to gain a deeper understanding of how the system works and where interventions might be most effective. We looked at a small CLD that represented one of the reasons and impacts of increase in the time spent online. It showed feedback loops which are repercussions of time spent online.

• Reduction in real world interactions leading to social isolation.
• Increase in consumption because of increase in exposure to targeted ads.
• Social isolation leading to depression, impacting the release of dopamine, leading to more time spent online to balance the dopamine, and algorithms taking advantage of this fact.

Identifying leverage points

We tried to understand how causal loop diagrams make the task of finding leverage points (small shifts in one thing can produce big changes in everything). To identify the leverage points, we looked at the feedback loops that were trying to perpetuate the problem or obstruct the goal. Since the iceberg model had already helped us to identify the mental models behind the feedback loops, we knew how to challenge them. The identified leverage points were:

• Redesigning social media platforms
• Digital literacy education
• Algorithmic transparency
• Promoting offline activities

Intervention design

For each of the identified leverage points, we then looked at the possible fundamental interventions possible at a systemic level.

• Redesigning social media platforms
  • Reduced notification frequency
  • Prioritize meaningful interactions
  • Ethical design standards
• Digital literacy education
  • Public awareness campaigns
  • Media literacy curriculum in Schools
  • Train-the-trainer programs
• Algorithmic transparency
  • Policy recommendations
  • “Algorithm explainability” tool
  • Nutrition labels for algorithms
• Promoting offline activities
  • Community-based offline events
  • Support for local businesses & organizations

Systems change project activity: Technology as a catalyst for equity and well-being

For the second systems change project, we focused on the area, “Technology is not an enabler,” which we explored in Systems Series 2.

Together, we crafted a vision statement for this change project: “In 2035, technology is a powerful enabler for a thriving, prosperous society where our needs are met. Resources will be distributed equitably.”

Before we mapped the current reality with a CLD, we revisited the iceberg model we had previously developed in the second part of the series.

Causal loop diagram

Each participant drew their individual CLDs to convey their perception of a significant systems narrative underlying this focus area to convey their perception of a significant systems narrative underlying this focus area. This transformed into an engaging platform for discussing and collaborating on each other’s CLDs. The participants developed the following CLDs. For clarity, I have edited the CLDs for this blog post.

• The reinforcing feedback loop of web content creation and crawling thrives because of the rapid pace of creation and amplification through various tools and the integration of AI.

• Initially, bandwidth efficiency gains prompt web developers to progressively enhance the complexity of web pages, ultimately diminishing the observed bandwidth gains.

• Corporate lobbying hinders genuine social progress because it concentrates wealth in the hands of a select few powerful individuals who dictate the implementation of technology to further enhance their own power.

Designing fundamental interventions

Participants then brainstormed truly fundamental solutions based on the insights they gained from the CLDs.

Several fundamental solutions to enable technology were proposed:

• Enhancing transparency: Create transparency regarding the energy, water, and environmental impact of our actions.
• Implementing financial penalties: Utilize taxes, fines, and equity redistribution to address environmental concerns.
• Limit corporate political advertising: Establish policies that restrict corporate political advertising.
• Strengthen protections for public resources and utilities: Ensure robust safeguards for public resources and utilities.
• Promote digital and physical education: Provide comprehensive education programs that encompass both digital and physical learning experiences.
• Governments should lead by example: Governments should uphold principles and advocate for what is morally and ethically correct, challenging the practices of large corporations.
• Support marginalized communities through positive technology: Utilize technology to empower and support marginalized communities.
• Adopt sustainable approaches to content and code creation: Encourage conscious and intentional approaches to content and code creation.
• Implement positive governance frameworks: Establish governance frameworks that prioritize positive outcomes and environmental responsibility.

A key takeaway from the discussion was that people working in sustainability must demonstrate more confidence in their actions to bring about systemic change in how technology is designed.

Systems Series Continues

During the series the systems change makers were successful in creating a shared vision for sustainable tech, mapping the current reality using causal loop diagrams and creating fundamental solutions to reduce the gap between the vision and current reality. 

Co-creating the vision and the current reality gives us hope and drives us to do more fundamental and systemic work in tech. The three part systems series is just the beginning of a long journey. We’d love to continue this journey of co-creation in the CAT community. If you’re interested in hosting such co-creation journeys, just reach out to Siddhesh Wagle.

Acknowledgements: A special thank you to Jon Sleeper to co-create the workshop structure and co-facilitating. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Melissa Hsiung for her help with the series planning. I would also like to thank all the systems change makers for their valuable contributions.
 

References:

The workshop is designed using the following books

• Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
• The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge
• Systems Thinking for Social Change by David Peter Stroh

The post Designing Fundamental Solutions: Third event recap of systems series appeared first on ClimateAction.Tech.

Chris Alafaa is a Compliance Product Manager supporting small and medium-sized businesses and corporates in integrating sustainability into their operations through environmental compliance and carbon management tools.

What is a climate career to you?

A climate career to me is building stable, healthy, and sustainable systems that allow people, businesses, and ecosystems to thrive, not just survive.

How did you get started and what changes did you make in your career to work in this space?

My climate journey began during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. I was in my final year studying Marine Biology, and with school on pause, I spent a lot of time reading and researching. That’s when I stumbled upon the term “climate tech.” I already had a passion for geography, geopolitics, and the environment, but this sparked something deeper. In 2021, I discovered the Climate Tech Club on Clubhouse, which helped me understand the emerging climate tech movement and solidified my interest in working in space after graduation.

I initially wanted to go for a Geographic Information System (GIS) bootcamp, since I’ve always had a strong interest in geography and geospatial tools. But when I couldn’t find one, I joined a software bootcamp instead to build technical skills. At the same time, I started reaching out to experts and joined online climate communities like Work on Climate and ClimateAction.Tech. Roles in climate were limited and often targeted experienced professionals, so I focused on volunteering, networking, and learning from others’ journeys. I applied for and joined the On Deck Climate Tech Fellowship and later became part of the My Climate Journey community. During this time, I also landed a freelance research role with a UK consultancy and supported them for two years.

The real turning point came in 2024 when I joined the OnePointFive Academy (OPFA) after reflecting on past rejections and identifying skill gaps. OPFA gave me a practical understanding of corporate sustainability and net zero strategy. I also completed the Terra.do Corporate Sustainability Leadership Accelerator, which further deepened my expertise. With a clearer direction, stronger CV, and focused experience, I landed my first corporate sustainability role supporting SMEs and international companies on their sustainability goals. I would say fellowships like OPFA have been instrumental. They have opened even more doors for me in corporate sustainability and strategy.

What challenges have you faced in making this transition?

Being based in Nigeria, “climate work” was often seen through an NGO lens before the post COVID climate tech wave, there were few companies operating in this space locally. I also aimed to break into Corporate Sustainability and Strategy, but the market in Africa was still emerging and leaned heavily toward more experienced professionals. This meant I had to build my skills independently, seek out global communities, and essentially carve my own path into the field.

Any advice you’d like to share with others on their own climate journeys?

Start by joining climate communities and stay active. Being around others on similar paths makes the journey less isolating. Connect with people who share your background; it helps to see relatable examples. Be specific about the area of climate you want to work in, because the climate sector is broad. Once you’ve found your niche, identify skill gaps and upskill intentionally. Having that focus can make a difference.

You can connect with Chris on LinkedIn and visit his website at chrisalafaa.com.

If you’re interested in contributing, we invite you to share your own story on #climate-careers or reach out to Elisa or Jon on Slack for guidance. 

The post Climate Careers: Chris Alafaa appeared first on ClimateAction.Tech.