Brief Author Note

This past week was crazy in terms of AI policy and the AI for Good movement. 😅 

The U.S. government released their AI Action Plan which reinforced the “dominate at all cost” narrative the administration has adopted when it comes to AI.

Mistral AI released the world’s first lifecycle analysis (LCA )report of an AI model to quantify the environmental impacts of their LLM.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued their ruling on countries having to take ownership in limiting climate pollution to solve climate change.

What a week…

Chau,

Nate

Quick Links!

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• Scientific Papers

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Real Efficiency at Scale with Sean Varley (AI & Energy): This Hardware to Save a Planet episode features Sean Varley discussing how SiMa.ai builds efficient edge AI solutions that reduce energy consumption and improve hardware sustainability at scale.

Open Circuit: How will the Clean Energy Industry Recalibrate in the Wake of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) (AI & Energy): This Latitude Media episode discusses the effects of the Biden Administration's pause on new data center-related transmission projects (Order Blocking Big Builds or 'OBBB') and its ripple effect on the clean energy sector later on in the Trump Administration.

Does a Single AI Query Use a Bottle of Water? (AI & Water Resources): This Freakonomics Radio episode explores the hidden water consumption behind AI model training and querying, with AI researcher Kate Crawford highlighting how energy and water usage are intertwined in the development of modern AI systems.

Little-to-No Industrial Fishing Occurs in Fully and Highly Protected Marine Areas (AI & Ocean Conservation): Using AI and satellite-based Earth observation (AIS and SAR), this study analyzes fishing activity within the world’s most strictly protected marine areas. Contrary to widespread belief, it finds minimal industrial fishing in fully and highly protected MPAs, just one fishing vessel per 20,000 km² on average, nine times lower than in unprotected waters. The study emphasizes the value of real enforcement data over IUCN self-reporting, offering a rigorous global baseline for evaluating marine conservation effectiveness.

Scientific Literature on Carbon Dioxide Removal Revealed as Much Larger Through AI-Enhanced Systematic Mapping (AI & Climate Science): This study uses machine learning to conduct a large-scale systematic mapping of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) research, identifying nearly 29,000 relevant studies 3–4 times more than previously estimated. It reveals that CDR research is highly concentrated in specific options like biochar, dominated by technology-focused experimental studies, and disproportionately located in China and OECD countries.

Edge Computing and Artificial Intelligence for Landslides Monitoring (AI & Disaster Response): This paper proposes a real-time landslide monitoring and early warning system using a combination of Wireless Sensor Networks, AI, and edge computing. It introduces a novel approach that integrates a multi-agent system within a Kubernetes- and Docker-based AI-IoT architecture to detect triggering conditions and alert at-risk populations.

Optimizing Grid Infrastructure and Proactive Planning to Support Load Growth and Public Policy Goals (AI & Energy): Explore how optimizing grid infrastructure and proactive planning to support load growth and public policy goals in an era where data centers, AI, and electricity from the grid come crashing together.

Sustainable Procurement for Data Centers and Servers (AI & Infrastructure): Explore how sustainable procurement guidelines for data centers and servers can exist at the same time which is an irony in this business-centric world.

Artificial Intelligence: The Next Global Infrastructure Revolution (AI Policy & Governance): The Davos Foresight Whitepaper gathers 42 experts with 9 visions of the future, who ask: What questions are not being asked in our global conversations on health, technology, and sustainability?

Is Whistleblowing Dead? (AI & Ethics & Misinformation): Featuring Zelda Perkins (Can’t Buy My Silence), Will Alpine (Microsoft Whistleblower), and Jennifer Gibson (Psst.org), the discussion explores the power and cost of speaking out - and why legal and cultural reform is urgently needed.

5 Minute Papers on AI for the Planet (AI & Environmental Impact): Learn about how AI can be used to protect biodiversity, fight climate change, and just better understand our planet through 5-minute explainers covering academic papers on AI for the Planet. AI is not just chatbots! Grace Lindsay is a professor of Data Science & Psychology. She teaches a course on Machine Learning for Climate Change.

AI, Climate Change and Women Empowerment (AI & Climate Science): Joyeeta Das is a prominent climate and deep-tech entrepreneur, currently serving as the CEO and Co-founder of Samudra Oceans, a London-based company focused on scaling seaweed farming using robotics and AI for carbon capture and ocean health. She is a serial entrepreneur with a strong background in technology and a focus on leveraging innovation for social good. Prior to Samudra Oceans, she founded GYANA, an organization democratizing AI with a no-code platform, and led SuperPitch to acquisition by Diversity X. Discuss how AI, climate change, and women empowerment can come together with this podcast episode.

Monarcha (AI & Geospatial Analysis): Monarcha is an AI-powered geospatial platform that turns natural language into spatial analysis, styling, and workflows with no GIS expertise required. It connects to your data, understands context, and can runs 50+ spatial tools instantly on the map.

Converge Sensors (AI & Infrastructure): Builds sensors and AI platforms (e.g., ConcreteDNA) to monitor concrete strength and curing in real time.

Exnaton (AI & Energy): AI-driven SaaS platform for utilities enabling energy sharing, dynamic tariffs, intelligent EV charging, and billing solutions.

Opal (AI & Workforce Development): Try out Google's new vibe-coding app and see what you can create in the AI for Good space.

Monarcha (AI & Geospatial Development): Map, analyze and act. Turn messy spatial data into decisions in minutes using a combination of AI and agentic AI workflows.

Tanager Core Imagery (AI & Geospatial Development): Explore the datasets using the Tanager Core Imagery with open data from Planet AI.

Research Associate Fellowship (Open to US applications): The Research Associate will work closely with a diverse team of scholars from The People Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School who are passionate about conducting collaborative, applied, data-driven research on key priorities in government. Projects may include: measuring public servant wellbeing and testing ways to improve it, testing approaches to reduce stigma and increase take-up of government assistance programs, and studies on how to increase adoption of evidence at scale. 🗓️ Deadline: August 14, 2025.

Accelerating Climate Intelligence Provision for Risk Assessment Using Machine Learning and AI PhD Opportunity (Open to Australian or New Zealand applications only): We have a PhD opportunity that is unusually well funded (full scholarship plus $20,000 top up) for a start early in 2026 with a focus on risk assessment and accelerating climate intelligence with AI. 🗓️ Deadline: August 15, 2025.

If you have resources that you wish to submit to the AI & Environment Resource Hub, fill out the Google Form! Thank you for suggesting resources to add to the Resource Hub. 🙃 

That’s it for this week.

Thanks for reading the 10th issue of The Climate Code! It means a lot to me and we have more coming in the future, so definitely stick around! 🏃‍♂️💛

Nate

P.S.

New here? Check out the AI & Environment Resource Hub if you have no idea what it is. 😆