Welcome to another edition of Climatebase Weekly (Sunday, July 2nd, 2023). To view the web version of this issue, click here.

Each week we report on critical climate news to help keep you informed — and, we serve up the latest climate jobs to help you make climate your career.

Today in our climate news section, "This Week In Climate", we look at how global heat waves are forcing a re-think on climate adaptation.

This week we're featuring over 100 new jobs at climate companies like:

• Remote-first 🛴 Tempo, which partner with the best electric bike and scooter brands to offer their vehicles on an affordable, flexible, subscription basis, with on-demand repairs, theft protection, and connectivity.

• United Kingdom-based 🛰️ Natural Apptitude, which is an industry leader in the fields of spatial data collection and developing citizen science projects.

• Remote-first 🌳 The Environmental Defense Fund, which focuses on strong science, uncommon partnerships and market-based approaches to tackle urgent climate change threats with practical solutions.

• United States-based 🌎 Compact Membrane Systems, which creates technology to capture and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, avert global warming, and transform industry into a long-term sustainable enterprise.

• Remote-first ⛓️ CarbonBright, which is a fast growing startup that is on a mission to curb the climate crisis by enabling the world's transition to net-zero supply chains.

• Remote-first ♻️ SYSTEMIQ, which orchestrates system change in clean energy, circular material solutions and sustainable land use.

• Remote-first ⚡ Crux Climate, which is a stealth renewable energy fintech startup.

• and many more jobs below (keep scrolling!)👇

🚀 Apply to the Climatebase Fellowship — Fall 2023 Cohort

Climatebase is now accepting applications to the Fall 2023 cohort of the Climatebase Fellowship: the climate career accelerator for top mission driven professionals. Bringing together a curated cohort of experts and peers, the community-focused interdisciplinary educational experience is designed to help talented professionals accelerate their existing careers in climate or transition into the space. The Fellowship includes a 12-week program and 1 year of membership in the broader Fellowship community.

• Learn about our six new Specialized Tracks
• Apply now for priority consideration

Some quick reminders:

👋 Get discovered. Create a profile to have employers hire you.

🚀 Accelerate your climate career. Apply to join the Climatebase Fellowship.

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This Week In Climate

Written by Julian Moore

As the grueling heat in Texas and Mexico lurches into its third week, a picture of summers in the Anthropocene is coming into view. The heat wave briefly turned Texas into one of the hottest places on Earth, albeit still behind India, where temperatures are pushing the “limits of survivability”. While searing heat is hopefully making the case for climate action clearer, it is also reviving some questions about the wisdom of our near-term plans for adapting to the climate crisis.

Gas Power Teetering on the Edge

Natural gas (or methane gas, if you don’t want to use the standard euphemism “natural”) surpassed coal as the predominant source of electricity in the United States in 2016. But this reliance on natural gas has exposed vulnerabilities in the country's power grid, chief among them being a lack of resilience to the effects of climate change.

Since the fracking boom began around 2010, proponents of methane gas have pitched it as a “transition fuel” to help the global economy ease into renewables by using a less-polluting fossil fuel. Natural gas appeared to have the advantages of what energy wonks call “firm” power – electricity that can be generated 24 hours a day on-demand – without the heavy carbon profile of coal.

Unfortunately, we learned this February that the climate impacts of methane leaks from the energy sector are undercounted by as much as 70%. And with climate change arriving well ahead of schedule, it now appears that gas-fired power plants aren't as “firm” as promised, either.

The infrastructure for natural gas plants and pipelines was not designed with extreme weather conditions in mind, leading to power interruptions during climate calamities. Many gas generators are equipped with one in-bound pipeline or source, creating a single source of failure if the pipes are compromised during winter storms or summer demand surges.

Just take Texas for example, where this week saw a new record for electricity demand to keep air conditioning units running through the heat wave. Texas officials are watching to see if the state’s grid holds up better than in 2021, when it infamously went offline for days during a bomb cyclone.

The problem extends far beyond Texas. A Bloomberg investigation this week revealed that during a cold snap last December, 63% of the outages on the country’s largest electricity network were from gas power plants, despite only making up 44% of its grid.

The growing dependence on natural gas also poses a long-term challenge as the country transitions to renewable energy, as the gas infrastructure may become obsolete

Efforts to prevent grid failures include fines for underperforming generators and the implementation of capacity markets, where generators are paid to be available in case of emergencies. However, the fines have led to bankruptcy for some companies and are considered a failed experiment. PJM, the largest grid operator in the US, is working on improvements to its capacity market and considering stricter winterization standards for power plants. Proposals include requiring backup fuel on-site or access to multiple pipelines.

Some industry experts argue for federal oversight to mandate standards for gas grids, while others, perhaps unsurprisingly, suggest increasing excess generation. Ultimately, if renewables continue to outperform fossil fuels during extreme weather events, the case against expanding gas may become self-evident to ratepayers left out in the cold.

Climate’s Healthcare Costs

A report issued this week by the Center for American Progress estimates that extreme heat will result in $1 billion in health care-related costs this summer alone in the United States. The analysis projects a significant increase in emergency department visits and hospital admissions due to conditions related to cardiovascular, kidney and respiratory diseases.

That has been the case this spring in New York City, where a recent incursion of smoke from Canadian wildfires led to an 84% spike in hospital admissions for asthma-related conditions.

The study found that the health impacts of extreme heat is particularly severe among urban poor communities, which often lack access to air conditioning and green spaces.

The study focused on Virginia, where an average of 80 extreme heat days occurred every summer from 2016 to 2020. Virginia hospitals saw 4,600 emergency room visits for “heat-related illnesses” within that period, mostly for common symptoms such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke.

That’s almost certainly an underestimate, however, since many cases go unreported and can be difficult to diagnose apart from other pre-existing conditions in any given patient.

The good news is that several potential solutions are already at hand. Wealthy neighborhoods are often marked by tree-lined streets, which can reduce local temperatures by 20-45 degrees compared to unshaded areas.

Urban tree–planting projects are in development across the country to improve neighborhood resilience to extreme heat, along with other measures like implementing energy bill subsidies for low-income residents.

Clearer communication about heat illness symptoms and improved forecasting by local emergency management officials are also going to be critical as part of an overall recognition among urban leaders that cities are entering a new era in climate adaptation, whether they are ready for it or not.

🌎 New Climate Jobs

Check out some of the latest featured jobs below. If you don't see anything that speaks to you, you can always go to Climatebase to explore thousands of other opportunities.

Tempo

“Tempo believes in universal electric mobility. We partner with the best electric bike and scooter brands to offer their vehicles on an affordable, flexible, subscription basis, with on-demand repairs, theft protection, and connectivity. Subscriptions expand electric mobility, and electric mobility prevents climate change. ...”

• Senior Full Stack Engineer (Remote)

Natural Apptitude

“Natural Apptitude is an industry leader in the fields of spatial data collection and developing citizen science projects, with over 60 projects under its belt. We exist to support the work of the many fantastic organisations across the globe addressing environmental problems, in particular biodiversity loss, and we work with some of the leading conservation organisations in the UK and beyond. We have ...”

• Frontend Software Engineer (Remote (United Kingdom))

The Environmental Defense Fund

“With world attention on both the environment and the economy, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is where policymakers and business leaders turn for win-win solutions. By focusing on strong science, uncommon partnerships and market-based approaches, we tackle urgent threats with practical solutions. We are one of the world’s largest environmental organizations, with more than two million members and a staff of ...”

• Manager, Justice & Equity Learning (Remote)
• Senior Cloud Engineer – MethaneSAT, LLC (Remote)
• Sr. Site Reliability Engineer, DevOps - MethaneSAT (Remote)
• Senior DevOps Engineer – MethaneSAT, LLC (Remote)

CarbonBright Inc

“CarbonBright is a fast growing startup that is on a mission to curb the climate crisis by enabling the world's transition to net-zero supply chains. Our product provides instantaneous product environment footprint reports and critical analytics for the lifecycle of consumer packaged goods. This helps retailers and brands to measure the carbon footprint of their products and take steps to reduce ...”

• Founding Software Engineer - Backend (Remote (India))

SYSTEMIQ

“SYSTEMIQ orchestrates system change in clean energy, circular material solutions and sustainable land use. This means re-imagining our industries, re-configuring the world of energy, and regenerating the ecosystems around us. By addressing systemic failures in these areas, SYSTEMIQ aims to unlock economic opportunities that benefit business, society, and the environment. Since our start in 2016, we have grown to more than ...”

• Carbon Capture & Storage Project Manager (Remote (Europe))
• Partnerships Lead (Remote (Europe))
• European Policy Lead (Brussels, Belgium)

Kopperfield

“Kopperfield is focused on the intersection of climate and e-commerce. Our mission is to accelerate the electrification of personal infrastructure. Electrifying everything is a crucial step in fighting climate change. We’re making it simple for consumers to purchase electrically powered devices instead of fossil-fueled alternatives. “Big-ticket items in our households—cars, furnaces, water heaters, stoves, and dryers—along with our decisions about what ...”

• Software Engineer (Senior) (Remote (North America))

Okra Solar

“700M people do not have reliable energy access. Okra is on a mission to use its advanced digital monitoring, billing, and mesh-grids to energize these underserved communities. Okra’s software and hardware solution makes rural electrification more affordable, bankable and ensures longevity through modular design. The system can expand to match growing energy demand, making the system timeless. The Okra pod offers ...”

• Senior Back-End Developer (Porto, Portugal)
• Full-Stack Developer (Porto, Portugal)
• Senior Full-Stack Developer (Porto, Portugal)

Carbon Ridge

“Carbon Ridge is a leading developer of carbon capture & storage solutions for the maritime industry. Carbon Ridge’s OCCS technology provides a low-cost and near-term solution to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emissions from commercial shipping by up to 95%. Carbon Ridge’s unique technology allows for non-disruptive integration to vessel exhaust systems, enables up to a 75% reduction ...”

• Process Development Engineer (Houston, TX, USA)

Tenet

“Tenet’s integrated climate financing platform drives the mainstream adoption of sustainable technologies, first with electric vehicles. Tenet helps consumers power their lives more efficiently, while enabling financial institutions and companies to achieve their decarbonization goals. Electric vehicles are more expensive upfront but have lower ongoing fuel and maintenance costs - Tenet has built its flagship electric vehicle auto loan to lower ...”

• Head of Originations (Remote (NYC Preferred))

RER Solutions (supporting the U.S. Department of Energy)

“RER Solutions, Inc. is supporting The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED)’s mission to deliver clean energy demonstration projects at scale in partnership with the private sector to accelerate deployment, market adoption, and the equitable transition to a decarbonized energy system. ...”

• Technical Advisor (Finance Expert for Demand-side Mechanisms) (Remote)
• Technical Advisor (Ecosystem and Supporting Programs) (Remote)
• Technical Advisor (Technology Liftoff Analysis Knowledge Base) (Remote)
• Technical Analyst (Sector strategist in transportation decarbonization) (Remote)

ReCarbon

“ReCarbon is a low-cost and low-carbon fuels company . We use proprietary plasma* technology to transform carbon dioxide and methane – major greenhouse gas pollutants – into revenue-generating products, offering a better decarbonization solution for hard-to-abate industries. Based in California, USA with a global operational footprint, ReCarbon has been developing its breakthrough technology since its founding in ...”

• Sr. Mechanical Design Engineer (Fremont, CA)
• Sr. Process Development Engineer (Fremont, CA)
• Accounting Manager (Santa Clara, CA)
• Mechanical Prototype Engineer (Santa Clara/Fremont, CA)
• Software Automation Engineer (Santa Clara, CA)
• Jr. Electrical Application Engineer (Fremont, CA)
• Director of Business Development and Partnerships (Santa Clara, CA)

DeliverZero

“DeliverZero is a reusable packaging platform that enables restaurants and other food services to serve takeout and delivery in reusable containers rather than single-use. Our mission is to create a convenient, scalable, automated system of reusables that makes reusables a no-brainer to use instead of recyclable, compostable, styrofoam, or any other type of single-use boxes. DeliverZero works with over 100 ...”

• Account Executive (Remote)

Ascend Analytics

“Ascend Analytics is an innovative software and consulting company at the forefront of the renewable energy transition. Our software solutions provide decision analytics for power traders, risk analysts, resource managers, developers and financiers. Ascend provides a collaborative work culture involving frequent interaction with clients, where individual initiative and creativity are highly valued. Interactions with senior management happen daily, and hard ...”

They are hiring across the following departments:

• Analysts
• Software Engineering
• Data Analytics
• Customer Success 
• Business Development 
• IT
• HR
• Operations
• Product Management 

NineDot Energy

“NineDot's name derives from the classic mathematical puzzle for sparking out-of-the-box solutions. As a leading community-scale, clean energy developer with a growing portfolio of projects across a range of technologies, NineDot Energy is creating innovative energy solutions that support a more resilient electric grid, deliver economic savings and reduce carbon emissions. We plan to develop, build and operate more than ...”

• Sr. Legal Counsel (New York - Hybrid)
• Treasury Analyst (New York - Hybrid)
• FP&A Analyst (New York - Hybrid)
• Accounting Manager (New York, NY)
• Project Developer, Enterprise (New York - Hybrid)
• Data Engineer (New York - Hybrid)
• Director, Regulatory Affairs (New York - Hybrid)
• Chief Operating Officer ((Hybrid, Must be located in the New York Metropolitan Area ))
• Project Manager (New York - Hybrid)
• Chief Financial Officer ((Hybrid, Must be located in the New York Metropolitan Area ))
• Energy Markets Analyst (Hybrid) (New York - Hybrid)

Capture6

“Capture6 develops and commercializes highly-scalable approaches to permanently removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a way that is easy to verify and audit. Because time is of the essence with earth’s climate in the balance, we pioneered an approach that can be massively deployed today through repurposing a set of commercialized technologies. As a registered public benefit corporation, the ...”

• Development Associate or Manager (Remote (United Kingdom))
• Process Engineer (Remote (San Francisco Bay Area, CA, United States))

Pyka

“Pyka’s goal is to provide society with a new form of fast, environmentally friendly, and accessible transportation enabled by autonomous electric aviation. To get there, we’re taking a different approach than most. We're applying our technologies to every industry where electric aircraft can be useful, starting with the highest value and most dangerous jobs. In doing so, we're building useful, game-changing ...”

They are hiring across the following departments:

• Electrical Engineering 
• Technicians
• Software Engineering 
• Mechanical Engineering

Scale Microgrid Solutions

“Scale Microgrid Solutions (“Scale”) is a fully integrated distributed energy platform focused on designing, implementing and financing innovative distributed clean energy solutions. Through its leading technical expertise and access to scale capital, Scale helps its customers transition to a decentralized energy future by providing and financing sustainable, cost-effective, and resilient power solutions. Scale has its own proprietary microgrid solution which ...”

They are hiring across the following departments:

• Application Engineering 
• Finance 
• Software Engineering 
• Operations
• Strategy
• Product Management 
• Project Management
• Technicians
• Accounting

Crux Climate

“Crux is a stealth renewable energy fintech. Crux Climate is founded by Alfred Johnson & Allen Kramer . They previously founded Mobilize (acquired by Insight Partners-owned EveryAction in 2020). Alfred was most recently Deputy Chief of Staff of the Treasury Department. Before Mobilize, he led Sales/People for Clara Lending, and was a Vice President at BlackRock. Before Mobilize, Allen worked at ...”

• Software engineer @ Renewable energy fintech (Remote)

Ecolectro

“Ecolectro is unleashing the green hydrogen revolution. Using today’s technology and talent we’re bringing scalable, low-cost, we're tackling our biggest climate problem - bringing clean green hydrogen energy to the very near future! ...”

• Group Director, Electrochemistry (Ithaca, NY, USA)

That's it for this week! Remember, you can always view thousands of more jobs on Climatebase.org.

Final reminders...

👋 Get discovered. Create a profile to have employers hire you.

🚀 Accelerate your climate career. Apply to join the Climatebase Fellowship.

🌱 Hiring? Post your jobs to reach over 200k monthly users users and over 70,000 newsletter readers

❤️️ Share a link to this week's edition

🐦 Let's connect! Follow us on Twitter @Climatebase, and our co-founders @evandhynes and @jhardin925