There's a lot of low-hanging fruit
There are millions of people working on climate, but some of the lowest-effort highest-impact projects still aren't being picked up.
Earlier this month, Andy Masley posted a call on Substack for “more specific and numerate climate communication”. Despite there being millions of people working on climate, there is still low-hanging fruit: super promising work that takes relatively little effort. The type of work that compares the simple number that can guide actions towards higher-impact work.
[I was] motivated a lot by the effective altruist observation that almost no one is bothering to publicly compare very simple numbers involved in big global problems, and that those numbers do matter quite a bit and should be more action-guiding than they often are. - Andy Masley
So what is some high-impact “meta” work that still hasn’t been picked up?
A clear customizable visualization of how any one activity compares to your total daily and annual emissions, to help you figure out what to cut.
An 80,000 Hours-like comprehensive website trying to rigorously compare the actual impacts of different climate careers specifically. (We’re working a small version of this.)
A simple prioritisation of where to donate for climate change adaptation.
Using forecasting and data from prediction markets to estimate the cost-effectiveness of climate charities.
Which interventions or strategies are most cost-effective for reducing the health burden of air pollution?
Guidance for (academic) researchers to pick high-impact research topics.
Some of these idea’s are Andy’s; some are mine. This is by no means an exhaustive list.
Long story short: feel welcome to get involved!
Also in this this newsletter:
Impactful Giving Strategies for Reducing Biodiversity Loss
Mental Health Survey
The first effective environmentalism university group has launched!
Short news, events, and opportunities
This newsletter just hit 1000+ subscribers! We’re excited to see a growing interest in effective environmentalism. Do you have connections who would be interested in maximizing the impact of their climate action? Please forward this newsletter so they can get involved.
Impactful Giving Strategies for Reducing Biodiversity Loss
What are the most promising ways in which donors can tackle biodiversity loss?
Giving Green—a climate change charity evaluator—has published its first strategy report on reducing biodiversity loss at the request of a donor.1
For biodiversity on land, Giving Green recommends donors to focus on reducing land use change from agricultural expansion, as this is the largest driver of terrestrial biodiversity loss. Donors can support organisations that:
Advocate for alternative protein policy and research, such as the Good Food Institute, to reduce the amount of farmland for grazing and animal feed.
Protect sensitive and unique habitats at scale, such as Wetlands International. Protecting these ecosystems could help conserve the most valuable habitats from conversion in the short term until land-use pressures are solved.
For marine biodiversity, Giving Green recommends working on bycatch reduction and innovation in fish feed.
On March 17th, Giving Green will host a webinar with leading experts in alternative proteins, wetlands, fish feed innovation, and bycatch reduction.
Mental Health Survey
Rethink Wellbeing is researching mental health in the effective altruism community. They’re running a survey to gather information about mental health and productivity across the community to better understand the range of experiences, challenges, and strengths among EA community members, and what resources and support would be most valuable.
This survey closes on March 15th.
🗞️ Short news
An effective environmentalism group and fellowship just launched at Durham University (U.K.). Follow @du_effective_environmentalism on Instagram to stay in-the-loop.
Devon Fritz, the co-founder of High Impact Professionals, is launching his book The High-Impact Professional’s Playbook: How To Turn Your Career, Income, and Influence into Doing Good. A must-read if you want to make a high positive impact with your career.
Founders Pledge has published its 2025 Climate Fund Impact Report.
📅 Events
High-Impact Giving Strategies for Reducing Biodiversity Loss (March 17th)
How to Turn Your Climate Concern into High-Impact Action with The World Climate Relay. (April 8th)
Upcoming effective altruism conferences in Mexico City, Nairobi, Jakarta, Stockholm, Washington D.C., and London.
Join the World Climate Relay and raise funds for high-impact climate charities by running, biking, climbing, or swimming. (June 5th-12th)
📰 What we’ve been reading and listening to
Climate change is speeding up — the pace nearly doubled in ten years. Earth is now warming at a rate of around 0.35 ºC per decade, fresh analysis finds. This is mainly because of a reduction in air pollution following the introduction of fuel regulations for international shipping (which has resulted in fewer pollutant particles that reflect sunlight into space and seed insulating clouds). (Alexandra Witze for Nature News)
A two-part series on effective conservation by Rhett Ayers Butler:
Precision conservation: the rise of place-specific strategies where protection works best
Do subsidies make meat much cheaper? A little, but not much. Certainly not enough to make them cheaper than meat substitutes. (Hannah Ritchie)
We could produce a lot of electricity on the land used for biofuels. About enough to meet current global electricity demand. (Hannah Ritchie)
Reducing air pollution: Can markets succeed where regulation fails? (VoxDevTalk podcast.)
👩💼 Opportunities
The Good Food Institute APAC is hiring a People & Culture Lead to help build and support a high-performing, mission-driven team working to transform the global food system through alternative proteins.
GFI APAC is also hiring a Policy Specialist (South Korea) to play a key role in advancing policies that enable the growth of alternative proteins and the transition to a more sustainable global food system.
Future Cleantech Architects is hiring an Impact and Development Officer (remote from Amsterdam)
Find more opportunities on the Probably Good, 80,000 Hours, and EA Opportunities job boards.
💡Useful resources
We’ll include these in every newsletter.
Read our career advice
Find and donate to high-impact climate nonprofits
Join our talent directory and find work
Join our LinkedIn group and Slack community
Disclosure: the newsletter author is also Giving Green’s lead biodiversity researcher.