💰 U.S. Pledges More Money
President Joe Biden has pledged to quadruple the United States’ contribution to developing nations struggling with the real-time consequences of climate change and the clean energy transition. The announcement comes in response to increasing pressure from affected countries ahead of COP26 negotiations, and is aimed at easing cooperation on more ambitious commitments when the countries meet in Glasgow later this year.
President Biden said the United States would spend $11 billion annually on climate assistance compared to the $5.7 billion Congress has promised, which already represents a doubling from Obama Administration levels. Some studies have suggested that given the United States’ outsized contributions to climate change since it began industrialization, a more equitable commitment would be north of $40 billion annually.
What remains unclear is where exactly the additional funds will come from amidst a protracted battle in Washington over two massive federal spending bills. Many of the sticking points in those bills are indeed the President’s most ambitious climate goals. But Biden Administration officials insist that Congress is only one path, suggesting that the US may look to bilateral deals and development banks to make good on the promise.
⬇️ Coal Winding Down
New coal projects around the world are on their last legs, according to a report published by climate change think tank E3G this week. Since 2015, 1,175 gigawatts of coal-fired development have been canceled, outpacing the number of newly announced infrastructure by more than three to one.
The canceled projects amount to a 56% reduction of planned coal expansion, which, according to the report “would have been equivalent to adding a second China (1,047GW) to global coal capacity.” The report credits both markets and government action for the reduction in coal consumption, citing the combination of affordable wide-scale renewable energy and 44 “no new coal” commitments by governments around the world as primary drivers.
As for the new coal projects still planned to go forward, four-fifths are in Asia, and more than half of those are in China alone. And while China’s coal development goes ahead as planned, the country has still reduced its coal proposals by 74% since 2015, and has promised to “strictly control” its output going forward.
♻️ Truth in Recycling
A California bill that would ban the recycling label on non-recyclable products sold in the state landed on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk this week.
In what would seem to be a betrayal of common sense, the so-called “chasing arrows” are stamped and printed onto a host of products that, in fact, cannot be recycled. The result, according to the firm Waste Management, is that one out of every four items put in a recycling bin ends up in a landfill, leading to confusion on the part of consumers looking to reduce their waste. Senate Bill 343 is just one in a salvo of proposals put forth by California state legislators that seek to rein in greenwashing in the waste sector, including one which would have required all single-use disposable packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2032 (it was tabled in May).
The bill also reflects broader concerns around the impact of recycling in the context of climate action. Research organizations such Project Drawdown (a Climatebase partner) list recycling as a measure that could save tons of carbon pollution, while yielding considerable economic benefits. At the same time, polluting industries have for decades mounted elaborate PR campaigns to steer conversations away from tough legislation and toward guilt-driven individual action and misleading circular arrow symbols.
⛏️ Rare Earth Bonanza
While the clean energy transition may take decades, the time to invest in the commodities that will build it is now. That is one of the takeaways from a Bloomberg report published this week, which features a beautiful graphic breakdown of major clean technologies and their projected impact on demand for rare materials.
Fancy graphics aside, the report takes a deep dive into how bottlenecks in the supply chain for rare and hard-to-extract metals represent both the greatest threat and greatest opportunity for clean technology adoption today. The process of discovering and extracting key raw materials for batteries such as cobalt and lithium can take years. This means that mining companies and clean technology manufacturers are hungry for funding now in order to meet the demand that is set to explode once government mandates on electric vehicles and solar panel installation come into force around the world.
If that demand isn’t met, the world may see price shocks like it did late last year when demand for solar panels jumped unexpectedly after the election of Joe Biden in the United States, and Xi Jinping’s commitment to making China carbon neutral by 2060. That caught producers flat-footed, leading to a surge in the price of polysilicon that helped reverse the falling cost of solar, and may well “offer a foretaste of what could occur in the coming years if the supply of raw materials isn’t sufficient.”
🗺 Fire Here, Algal Blooms There
A fascinating study published in the journal Nature last week revealed that smoke from Australia’s devastating 2019 wildfires fed an algal bloom thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean, reaching as far away as the coast of Chile.
Researchers showed that smoke from the fires drifted west and touched down in areas of the ocean that were relatively low in iron, adding an otherwise missing ingredient for algae growth. The blooms were mainly concentrated in Southern Australia and in the middle of the South Pacific, where smoke patterns correlated with enormous spikes in algae growth (map in the link).
Algal blooms have long been associated with runoff from human activities, such as lawn fertilizer making its way from an unsuspecting home garden into the ocean via storm drains. And while scientists have speculated about the carbon-capturing potential of algae, other ocean blooms have been connected to massive fish die-offs and suffocating already-stressed coral reefs. The study’s findings add to the long list of known consequences caused by wildfires, but between sinking carbon and disrupting marine wildlife, they may add a wrinkle to climate models in the future.
New Climate Jobs
Charm Industrial - Our mission is to reverse climate change and return the atmosphere to 280 ppm CO₂. To pursue this challenge, we convert waste biomass into carbon-rich bio-oil and inject it into permanent, underground storage wells as a form of carbon removal, or reform it to produce green hydrogen and syngas for industrial processes like steel, cement, and chemicals manufacturing.
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- Mechanical Engineer (San Francisco California, United States)
- Software Engineer (San Francisco California, United States)
Nori - Nori is a company on a mission to reverse climate change by removing enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to lower the overall concentration of CO2 below 300 parts per million. By creating a massive marketplace for carbon removal, starting with regenerative agriculture projects that store carbon in the soil, we can repair our climate and fund a better future.
DG+Design - DG+Design is a marketing and creative agency with a focus on clean energy and sustainable brands. Our work is founded on the passion to uniquely combine clean energy expertise, creative skill, and marketing strategy to provide unrivaled value for clients.
- Marketing Associate, Clean Energy (Remote)
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Flair - Flair was founded to solve a problem that almost every house or apartment has: the room that doesn't heat or cool evenly. Its temperature is out of sync with the rest of the house. It's either too hot or too cold. Flair fixes that. We built a suite of products that give you room-level temperature control at an affordable cost. We want you to be comfortable and to save energy. It's as simple as that.
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Little Thing - Little Thing is a small but mighty team of communications, research, fundraising, and advocacy campaigning experts working with prominent, influential clients on national political issues. We primarily focus on work related to climate change and the protection of our democracy.
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EcoCosm - EcoCosm is a full-service energy company that creates and implements regenerative strategies for sustainable growth. We engineer energy upgrades and implement them for our clients. Then we track savings to make sure they don’t slip after the job is finished.
- Assistant Energy Engineer (Remote)
SCS Global Services - Since 1984, SCS has been a pioneer and leader in the field of sustainability standards and third-party certification, working across the economy in the natural resources, built environment, food and agriculture, consumer products and climate sectors. Partnering with companies, government agencies, NGOs, and stakeholders, we are striving to advance sustainable development goals through independent assessment, the application of sound science, and innovative solutions.
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- Food Safety Auditor, GMP/GDP/HACCP, US /Canada (Emeryville, California, United States)
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- Life Cycle Assessment Associate (Emeryville, California, United States)
- Organic Inspector (Los Angeles, California, United States)
- Technical Coordinator, Dairy Programs (Emeryville, California, United States)
- Executive Assistant (Emeryville, California, United States)
- Food Safety Auditor, All US (Emeryville, California, United States)
OnePointFive - OnePointFive (OPF) is a remote advisory firm working to democratize access to multidisciplinary sustainability experts with a focus on commercializing climate technologies, deploying climate finance, and providing bespoke sustainability services. Our vision is to accelerate solutions that enable businesses and the environment to coexist in harmony, ensuring global warming stays below OnePointFive degrees Celsius (1.5oC)..
- Senior Associate (Remote)
NCX - NCX helps mission-driven companies buy carbon credits from American forest owners. Based on a decade of work with America's largest landowners, our data-driven platform brings gigatons of new carbon offsets to market. Our mission is to work with every forest owner to unlock the full value of every acre.
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- Chief Product Officer (Remote)
Wunder Capital - Wunder is financing the commercial solar revolution! To do this, we leverage proprietary technology and industry expertise to finance commercial and industrial-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. Our partners and customers benefit from our competitive financing packages and unrivaled speed, flexibility, and service.
- Associate Director, Credit & Underwriting (Remote / Boulder or Denver, CO, United States)
- Associate Director, Project Development (Remote / Boulder or Denver, CO, United States)
- Director, Asset Acquisition (Remote / Boulder or Denver, CO, United States)
- Director, Credit & Underwriting (Remote / Boulder or Denver, CO, United States)
- Director, Project Development (Remote / Boulder or Denver, CO, United States)
- Director, Project Finance (Remote / Boulder or Denver, CO, United States)
- Senior Solar Developer (Remote / Boulder or Denver, CO, United States)
- Analyst, Asset Management (Remote / Boulder or Denver, CO, United States)
- Senior Solar Developer (Remote / Boulder or Denver, CO, United States)
Greentown Labs - Founded in 2011 by a group of like-minded entrepreneurs in search of affordable space to build prototypes and their clean energy startup companies, Greentown Labs is the largest climatetech startup incubator in North America. Greentown is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, and recently opened a second location in Houston, Texas.
- Senior Manager of Marketing and Events - Houston (Houston, TX, United States)
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WeaveGrid - WeaveGrid builds software to make it cheaper and safer for utilities to serve electric vehicles, add renewable energy resources, and save customers money. Our mission is to drive rapid decarbonization in the global transport and power sectors by intelligently connecting electric vehicles to the grid.
- Software Engineering Lead, Utility Solutions (San Francisco, CA, United States)
- Executive Assistant) (San Francisco, CA, United States)
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Electric Hydrogen - Founded by experienced renewable energy technologists and backed by committed mission-driven investors, Electric Hydrogen is building solutions to help cost-effectively decarbonize the massive industrial sectors that we all rely on. At Electric Hydrogen we’re thinking big and with urgency to decarbonize the physical world.
- Software Engineering Lead, Utility Solutions (Bay Area, California, United States)
- Office manager (Natick, MA, United States)
- Project Manager, Engineering (Bay Area, California, United States)
- Engineer, Reliability and ALT (Natick, MA, United States)
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- Lead Prototyping Technician (Palo Alto, CA or Natick, MA, United States)
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- Procurement Manager (Palo Alto, CA or Natick, MA, United States)
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- Manufacturing Process Engineer – Metal Forming (Natick, MA, United States)
- Procurement Manager (Palo Alto, CA or Natick, MA, United States)
- Senior Engineer - Electrochemical Design (Natick, MA, United States)
VitroLabs - We cultivate authentic materials without compromise, by harnessing science and nature responsibly by partnering the most innovative minds in science and technology with the finest craftspeople to accelerate the use of cellular agriculture for good. Our first product is slaughter-free, real leather.
- Executive Assistant (Milpitas, California, United States)
- Pilot Manufacturing Manager (Milpitas, California, United States)
- Bioprocess Engineer (Milpitas, California, United States)
Numina - Numina makes a hardware and software platform that uses computer vision to help urban planners and municipal governments design better (safer) streets and public places. We sense bicycle, pedestrian, and other street traffic, and convert this data into real-time intelligence — without surveillance — to enable all sorts of partners in automation, autonomy, and development in the public right-of-way.
- Computer Vision Engineer (Remote)
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WattTime - WattTime is a nonprofit with a software tech startup DNA, dedicated to giving everyone everywhere the power to choose clean energy. We invented Automated Emissions Reduction (AER), which allows utilities, IoT devices and energy storage companies, and any end user to effortlessly reduce emissions from energy, when and where they happen.
- Senior Software/Data Engineer - Python and SQL (Remote)
Cambium Carbon - Cambium Carbon is a circular economy platform for trees in US cities. We are working to connect the broken supply chains in the urban forestry industry through tech, and are creating a new, highly desirable, class of wood called Carbon-Smart WoodTM.
- Director of Marketing and Communications (Remote / Washington DC, USA)
Flair - Flair was founded to solve a problem that almost every house or apartment has: the room that doesn't heat or cool evenly. Its temperature is out of sync with the rest of the house. It's either too hot or too cold. Flair fixes that. We built a suite of products that give you room-level temperature control at an affordable cost. We want you to be comfortable and to save energy. It's as simple as that.
- Marketing Manager (Remote / San Francsico, CA)
AlliedOffsets - AlliedCrowds has a unique mission: combine technology, data, and finance to bring radical transparency to carbon offsetting. We do this by creating innovative data products that help to unlock capital for entrepreneurs and project developers in emerging markets, enabling them to grow their businesses, hire new employees, and contribute to the global economy and UN SDGs. We have also created AlliedOffsets, the first aggregated database of carbon offsetting projects globally, providing transparency to the market.
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Mapistry - Mapistry’s SaaS platform provides industrial companies with the compliance data tracking and analytics they need to make better environmental, health, and safety (EHS) decisions.
- Enterprise Customer Success Manager (Remote)
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Tezza - Tezza is an early-stage public benefit corporation focused on climate change and sustainability. Our vision is a world where on every menu, grocery shelf, and table, the most exciting foods are also the most sustainable. To achieve this, our mission is to use modern, high-throughput science to discover cultured foods that tap into the diversity of the microbial world. We are starting with a new category of aged, hard cheeses—that happen to be made from plants. The dairy industry produces more than 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions—more than aviation—and poses further sustainability as well as animal welfare challenges. We provide better, more affordable, and healthier products that bring people together around a shared love of food.
- Scientist, microbiology (Oakland, CA)
- Product developer, cheese (Oakland, CA)
Pique Action - Pique Action is a climate solutions media company. Our mission is to tell stories that matter in order to effect change. We are the opposite of doom scrolling.
- Director of Social Media (Remote / Los Angelos, CA, USA)
That's it for this week! Remember, you can always view thousands of more jobs on Climatebase.org.
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