💔 It’s been too long! I can’t believe the last issue we published was back in November or December of 2025 and then we went on hiatus!

Good news is that our newsletter is up and running in 2026 and boy what a moment too soon with everything that is going on!

Here’s some interesting resources that happened last week:

Ciao!

Nate

Why Tech Companies Should Not Deprioritize Future Readiness with Rainer Karcher (AI & Policy/ESG): Rainer Karcher discusses why future-readiness and sustainability resilience should be core to tech strategy.

Debriefing QCon Sustainability Track with Erica Pisani(AI & Policy/ESG): Recap of QCon sustainability sessions, including green architecture, energy efficiency, and open standards.

Cloud Native Attitude(AI & Data Centers/Hardware): Anne Currie and Jamie Dobson explore cloud-native practices for optimizing infrastructure energy use and renewables.

Balancing Sustainability And Performance: The Role Of Small-Scale LLMs In Agentic Artificial Intelligence Systems (AI & Data Centers/Hardware/Models): As large language models become integral to agentic AI systems, their energy demands during inference pose significant sustainability challenges. This paper explores how small-scale LLMs can balance performance and sustainability in agentic AI deployments.

Small Bottle, Big Pipe: Quantifying and Addressing the Impact of Data Centers on Public Water Systems (AI & Water Resources): This paper quantifies the water consumption impact of data centers on public water systems, analyzing how hyperscale AI infrastructure strains local water resources and proposing mitigation strategies for utilities and policymakers.

From Efficiency Gains to Rebound Effects: The Problem of Jevons' Paradox in AI's Polarized Environmental Debate (AI & Environment): This paper examines how AI has emerged as a contested force in climate discourse, analyzing the tension between efficiency gains and Jevons' paradox, where efficiency improvements can lead to increased overall resource consumption.

Expert Engagement Group on AI and Climate: Recommendations Report (AI & Climate): This February 2026 report provides actionable guidance on aligning AI development with climate objectives, covering governance frameworks, measurement standards, and cross-sector coordination to accelerate climate action through AI.

From Carbon to Code (AI & Climate): This white paper explores the transition from carbon-intensive industries to AI-driven digital infrastructure, examining environmental trade-offs, emissions accountability, and the policy landscape for a lower-carbon digital economy.

Air Quality, Health, and Economic Impacts of the Vantage Data Center Facility (AI & Environmental Justice): This independent assessment quantifies the air quality, public health, and economic costs imposed on nearby communities by the Vantage Data Center facility, providing evidence for policy action on industrial AI infrastructure siting.

Smaller Footprint, Bigger Impact: Building Sustainable AI for the Future (AI & Environmental Impact): This session examines how resilient and resource-efficient AI models can deliver high impact while reducing energy use and environmental footprint.

Flexibility Up Front: Integrating Large Loads into Resource Adequacy Planning (AI & Multiple Applications): As the United States faces unprecedented electricity demand growth driven by data centers and AI, this panel explores how grid operators and utilities can integrate large loads into resource adequacy planning.

AI & Animals: A Documentary (AI & Biodiversity & Conservation): A 35-minute documentary by Animal Ethics featuring 16 leading experts exploring how AI can and should be used to improve animal welfare and reduce suffering across farming, conservation, and research.

Endolith (AI & Circular Economy): Endolith is at the forefront of revolutionizing the mining industry by pioneering sustainable mining solutions. Leveraging the power of microbes, synthetic biology, and cloud computing, Endolith aims to transform how copper is extracted, reducing environmental impact and setting new standards for the industry.

Antarctica (AI & Environment): Antarctica is a climate technology company delivering enterprise-grade measurement, observability, and intelligent automation for AI and IT systems.

Digital Infrastructure Ireland (AI & Infrastructure): Digital Infrastructure Ireland is a global initiative dedicated to driving the growth and success of the digital infrastructure ecosystem both in and from Ireland.

2025 Federal Agency AI Use Case Inventory (AI & Workforce Development): This repository consolidates AI use case inventories from across U.S. Federal agencies, documenting how artificial intelligence is being deployed across government operations and public services to improve efficiency and workforce outcomes.

AI & Environment Tools (AI & Sustainability): A website to accompany the AI & Environment Resource Hub tools tab. Explore and find more tools in an interactive manner! I created this using Claude Code 🫠 !

AI Resilience Report (AI & Workforce Development): A free interactive tool that rates the AI resilience of over 1,597 U.S. occupations, providing insights into which jobs and skills are most and least vulnerable to AI-driven automation.

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. 🙃

Thanks for reading the 31st 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. 😆