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In today’s edition of Climatebase Weekly:

In today's edition of This Week in Climate, we saw scientists rediscover a thriving coral reef long believed extinct off West Africa, researchers unveil an open-source breakthrough that could make grid-scale energy storage far more affordable, and Indigenous-led forestry prove remarkably effective at protecting one of Central America’s largest rainforests.

After nearly five years, we can finally answer the question everyone asks us — does the Fellowship help people land climate jobs? — with real data. Our first-ever Career Outcomes Report is out; catch the highlights below.

Updates on the Climate Week Network — a philanthropically supported project powered by Climatebase and a global community of partners, helping launch and grow climate weeks in cities around the world.

Recently announced Climate Weeks:

Discover the thousands of climate jobs that have been posted on Climatebase over the past few days—from startups to major employers hiring across climate tech, energy, policy, food, nature, and more.

For nearly five years, people have asked us the same question: does the Climatebase Fellowship actually help people land new jobs? Yesterday, we answered it — with data.

About half of Fellows join primarily to find a new role, so our 2026 Career Outcomes Report zeroes in on those who set out to make a career move, drawing on Fellows from our first six cohorts. A few numbers that stood out:

That last one says a lot about how climate hiring really works: connections matter. The report also covers where Fellows land and shares success stories in their own words:

→ Curious about joining the Fellowship? Attend our upcoming info session.
→ Ready to make your move? Apply for the next cohort.

Quick reminders:

We're looking forward to this year’s Greentown Labs ClimatetechSummit! This
event is the premier gathering for climatetech and energy innovation, bringing together the entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders powering the energy
transition.

Now in its seventh year, the Greentown Labs Climatetech Summit is the ultimate
celebration of climate-focused entrepreneurship and innovation. The path toward our sustainable future requires transformative innovation across all of our world’s industrial systems: how we power our lives, move through cities, build and
manufacture goods, grow and distribute food, and manage the natural resources the whole planet depends on. And at Greentown, their bet is on the entrepreneur.

Learn more and register for:

→ Ready to register? Sign up here.

By Julian Moore

Scientists have rediscovered a healthy coral reef off the coast of Benin, in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea, more than 60 years after it was first noted and then presumed dead. The reef was originally documented by accident in the 1960s, when fisheries surveyors pulled up coral in their nets during a seabed survey; the finding was buried in a brief mention within a larger report and largely forgotten. As global coral cover declined sharply from bleaching and overfishing in subsequent decades, researchers assumed any reef there had not survived.

New surveys using sonar and deep-sea camera equipment located the reef roughly 14 miles offshore and at depths exceeding 175 feet, which is far deeper than most known reef systems. It has now been classified as a mesophotic coral ecosystem, a light-dependent reef type that bridges shallow reefs and deeper habitats and that still remains poorly studied worldwide. The site hosts at least eight coral species, including soft and black corals, along with eight fish species such as golden African snappers and Monrovia doctorfish, forming a thriving, apparently undisturbed ecosystem.

Because the reef appears untouched by human activity, researchers say it could offer valuable data on historical climate conditions through future carbon dating. Local fishermen also report sightings of sharks and rays nearby, prompting a push to designate the area as a protected marine zone and an Important Shark and Ray Area.

Researchers at Queen's University Belfast have developed a low-cost, 3D-printed flow battery that could help accelerate renewable energy storage worldwide. Flow batteries store energy in liquids rather than solid electrodes, but they typically rely on vanadium, an expensive metal produced in only a few countries. The QUB design uses iron instead, making it far cheaper and easier to source.

The cell, developed by a PhD researcher during efforts to standardize his test results against other labs, costs around £74 to build from roughly ten components. Rather than commercializing the design, the team decided to share it freely with the international research community, alongside detailed assembly instructions, to help address the field's long-standing problem of inconsistent research results.

By distributing identical cells to institutions worldwide, researchers hope to generate more reliable, comparable data and speed up the technology's real-world deployment. QUB is co-leading multi-institution studies using the design as flow batteries remain underdeveloped globally due to cost and supply constraints, despite growing reliance on renewables.

The team is now scaling up the technology, testing larger stacks of the printed cells to assess how the chemistry performs beyond single-cell trials, as part of broader efforts to expand affordable, large-scale energy storage needed to support renewable grids.

Meta has withdrawn from RE100, the global corporate renewable energy initiative, after ramping up investment in gas power to meet surging data centre demand. According to Climate Group, which runs the scheme, Meta can no longer meet RE100's technical criteria following its March agreement with Entergy Corp. to build seven new gas-fired plants in Louisiana, adding more than 5GW of capacity for its largest data centre. 

Meta joined RE100 in 2016 and has claimed fully renewable-powered global operations since 2021, based on matching consumption with renewable energy certificates and power purchase agreements rather than direct renewable supply. Analysts note that as Meta's actual gas-based electricity use grows, that claim becomes harder to sustain even while certificate purchases continue, since its overall fossil fuel footprint keeps rising.

Experts describe the shift as structural, driven by AI-related electricity demand outpacing the buildout of new clean generation, with gas offering the fastest way to fill the gap. Meta is not alone: Microsoft recently partnered with Chevron on a gas facility in Texas, and Google is in talks with Crusoe Energy on a similar gas plant, reflecting broader tension between hyperscalers' clean energy pledges and their growing need for reliable, firm power. Most of this gas procurement has occurred in the US, and analysts suggest Europe's stricter regulatory environment may produce a different trajectory for data centre energy sourcing there.

Community-managed forestry concessions in Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR) are succeeding in halting deforestation where broader conservation efforts have failed, offering a model for sustainable logging. While the 2.1m-hectare reserve has lost nearly 13% of its forest cover over 24 years, the 12 community forestry concessions within its multiple-use zone have maintained near-zero deforestation, acting as "green islands" amid regional logging pressure.

Under 25-year contracts established since 1997, cooperatives like Carmelita harvest just two trees per hectare annually on a strict rotational basis, following Forestry Stewardship Council standards that dictate which trees can be cut and how. This contrasts with pre-reform practices, when private companies logged indiscriminately and left the forest degraded.

Some concessions have gone further, restoring degraded land: La Pasadita, after losing its logging rights in 2009 over illegal activity, rebuilt trust through a large tree nursery and reforestation program, recording a net forest gain. Uaxactún has diversified income through sustainable xate palm harvesting and ecotourism, while Carmelita has shifted from raw timber sales to value-added products like furniture, boosting local employment and income.

Overall, concession communities report household incomes up to three times the national poverty level, illustrating that giving local people a direct economic stake in the forest can be more effective than conventional protection alone.

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 over 50,000 new climate jobs.

Greentown Labs

“Largest climatetech incubator supporting startups to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and drive economic impact.”

Aquanzo

“Aquanzo's mission is to turn overlooked nutrients into ocean nutrition”

Transect

“Streamlining site selection for lower-risk, eco-friendly land development.”

Project Drawdown

“Project Drawdown is the world’s leading guide for science-based climate solutions. ”

Pathways Technologies

“Pathways helps concrete producers verify their product emissions through faster, simpler EPD generation, enabling them to compete for clean building contracts.”

Arenac Conservation District

“Empowering communities through conservation education and sustainable land stewardship for future generations.”

Rune Energy

“Rune helps solar and wind power plants turn financial and operational losses into revenue.”

Basis Climate

“Basis Climate is on the mission to make clean energy tax credit transfers work for projects of all sizes.”

ClimateAi

“AI-powered climate risk predictions for a resilient economy and safer lives.”

Friends of the Earth

“Advocating for global environmental justice and sustainable reforms for over 50 years.”

VIDA.place GmbH

“Empower companies to track their climate impact globally.”

Aquaria

“Transforming air into water for reliable, climate-resilient supply.”

Epic Cleantec

“Revolutionizing wastewater reuse to slash water demand by up to 95% and bolster sustainability.”

Voltpost

“Transforming lampposts into EV chargers to decarbonize mobility and reduce emissions.”

Pulsora, Inc.

“Empowering enterprises to enhance ESG and sustainability through innovative compliance and tracking technology.”

SINAI Technologies

“Transforming global carbon emission analysis and reduction with advanced technology.”