Climate Change for Software Engineers

Software is critical to climate solutions — climate modeling, energy efficiency & grid balancing, supply chain optimization, and much more. Get a crash course on climate science and impacts and find the highest leverage solutions for your skills.

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  • 100% online
  • 6 weeks / 5 hours per week
  • Economy-wide software and climate map
  • Course project tailored to your software skills
  • Sector-specific deep dives from climate software gurus

do { software } while ( climate crisis )

Find software’s place in climate action

Review the latest climate science. Discover the highest leverage points for software in climate action. The space is vast: energy efficiency & grid optimization, climate and policy impact modeling, climate tech in buildings, food and agriculture, industry, and so much more. Climate is eating the world, and software is an essential part of the solution.

Make your first contribution

We’ll rapidly show you the landscape, map climate solutions to software skills, and help you identify the first step you can take… whether that’s contributing to an open-source project, finding a role at a company, starting your own prototype, or anything in between.

Explore the ecosystem with like-minded peers

Join a climate-focused community of software engineers, engineering team leaders, entrepreneurs, and more. Collaborate as you learn and work on assignments in the program. This community is open to you forever and will keep growing with future cohorts. Kickstart your climate career together!

UNMATCHED FACULTY

Learn from world-class experts in climate software

Antonis Stampoulis

Course Creator

Technical Advisor, SustainChain
Ph.D., Yale University (USA)​

Antonis is a software engineering consultant for innovative startups building software platforms in sustainability and fintech. In his consulting practice, he supports software teams in technical design and technical strategy, as well as through engineering mentorship.

 

As part of his climate change journey, Antonis has been a technical advisor to SustainChain, a platform and community aiming to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Previously, he was the Director of Engineering at Originate NYC, where he helped build a number of software products from concept to launch in partnership with startups and innovation branches of large enterprises. He is a programming languages researcher with expertise in language design and implementation with a Ph.D. from Yale University and a post-doc from MIT.

 

Antonis is also a Terra.do graduate from the inaugural Learning for Action cohort. He is looking forward to bringing his experience to support other engineers in their own journey!

Lisa Rennels

Course Creator

Lead developer, Mimi.jl package
Ph.D Candidate, UC Berkeley (USA)

Lisa uses computer science methods to research the economic impacts of climate change, and works on software engineering to support research and policy-making in this area. Currently she is a lead developer of the Mimi.jl package to support the construction and use of integrated assessment models to explore the policy-relevant social cost of carbon.

 

Lisa is a Ph.D. student at the Energy and Resources Group and a M.Sc. student in Computer Science with a focus on programming languages and software development. Through her M.Sc. work she actively pursued a better understanding of how computer scientists can support climate research and policy makers.

 

Prior to her Ph.D., she spent the three years working at an environmental consulting firm called Industrial Economics Inc. where she leveraged data analysis, programming, and GIS to work on projects related to the effects of climate change, specifically those related to water resources, and assisted policy-makers in planning paths forward. She has a B.A. from Dartmouth College in Environmental Studies and a Post-Baccalaureate Computer Science Minor from Tufts University.

Guest speakers

Ilias Bartolini

Engineering Manager, Ecosia (Germany)

Ilias is a technical leader with expertise in software design and architecture, open and free software, growing and enabling teams and innovation. At Ecosia, he grows and supports engineering teams to build the search engine for a sustainable future. Ilias has international experience in delivering high quality digital products across multiple sectors. In addition to his technical practice, he also advises social businesses and nonprofits on how to use technology to enable them.
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Bosky Dalal

Director of Data Engineering, Afresh (USA)

Bosky has 10+ years of experience leading and managing data integration teams for fortune 500 clients. Currently, Bosky is the Director of Data Engineering at Afresh, the operating system built specifically to help grocers increase sales, empower store teams, stock fresher food, and reduce waste. She has vast implementation experience and has led data engineers to deliver enterprise level data integrations across several verticals including retail, restaurant, hotels, casinos, insurance, and banking.
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Levi Malott

VP of Engineering, Pachama (USA)

Levi Malott is an experienced software engineer and engineering manager who builds systems that are good for the planet. He is currently the VP of Engineering at Pachama, a startup that leverages data, artificial intelligence, and automation to protect ecosystems, restore forests, and improve carbon markets. Prior to Pachama, Levi was a Data Engineer at BetterUp and a Software Engineer at SpaceX. When he’s not modernizing forest carbon markets or building engineering teams, you might find him sharing his perspective on his newsletter and blog.
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Michael Cohen

Lead Developer at New Sun Road (USA)

Michael is an energy system modeler with 14 years of experience in power system simulation, data analysis and software engineering. He has been the Lead Developer at New Sun Road for the past 4+ years. He received his Master’s and PhD in Energy & Resources from the UC Berkeley. His software experience includes all phases of application development and deployment: requirements gathering, system architecture, data quality control, coding, user interface design, testing, application support and training.
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Asim Hussain

Green Cloud Advocacy Lead at Microsoft (USA)

Asim works on investigating best practices for building green sustainable applications on the Cloud. Previously, he led Cloud Advocacy for EMEA at Microsoft and freelanced for various companies including Google. He’s also worked at several startups, and served as a Vice President at Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan investment banks. He started his career at the European Space Agency in their mission control centre in Germany, launching rockets. He’s created a number of courses on JavaScript related technologies (which you can find on his codecraft.tv website) and has written and published a few books on Machine Learning and Angular.
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Dr Charles Fletcher

Professor, University of Hawaiʻi (USA)

Dr. Charles “Chip” Fletcher is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Earth Sciences at the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai. He was the 2006 recipient of the Hung Wo and Elizabeth Lau Ching Foundation Award for Faculty Service to the Community. In 2011 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized his professional work with an Environmental Achievement Award in Climate Change Science.
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Exceptional alumni

Our alumni have accomplished careers in industry, policy, and more, and have all made a commitment to focusing their career on sustainability and decarbonization. Expect a similarly accomplished peer set from the world of software, technology, product development, modeling, and others.

Join the waitlist

I really enjoyed the Terra.do software course. It gave me a great overview of the landscape of how software engineers might help on climate, and we had a fun and really engaged group of people in the course. Thinking about climate change can be overwhelming so it was motivating to know that so many other software engineers are in this too and we’re all trying to find the best ways to help.

Patrick Temple

Product Engineer, Watershed (USA)

Course breakdown

Sign up to get a detailed syllabus in your inbox, or check out a week-by-week outline below.

The Drivers and Impacts of Climate Change

Scale of climate change and its impacts; latest in climate science; role of software in helping us understand the current state, perform climate forecasting, enable day to day changes to production and consumption, and inform policy choices

The Solution Landscape

Latest understanding on climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience; preliminary discussion on how software is enabling climate action

Renewable Energy and Electrification

Review case studies of software components that are enabling more dynamics, distributed, and decentralized energy systems; discuss how software enables energy transition through local microgrids, smart devices with automated load shifting, etc.

Buildings, Cities, and Supply Chains

Role of software in more efficient uses of energy and resources; review case studies from companies using software in sustainable agriculture, food material production, and many more industries.

Carbon Removal, Carbon Accounting, and Carbon Offsetting

Software in carbon accounting and measurement, reporting, verification (MRV) of carbon offsets and carbon removal solutions

Personalized and relevant instruction

Our world-class faculty bring not only climate software expertise and experience but also trained techniques in online teaching and facilitation. Think of them as your personal coaches as you navigate your climate action journey in software.

Discussion groups

Once a week, you will meet with your instructor in live, small-group sessions for:

  • Project presentations by your fellow learners
  • Discussions on software’s role in climate action
  • Networking to find your future job, collaborator, co-founder, employee, or just a friend.

Software solution deep dives

Through classes & guest lectures, you will dive deep into climate software solution areas like:

  • Local microgrids, smart devices in energy systems
  • Measurement, verification, and reporting of carbon offsets and carbon removal solutions
  • Software in food material production
  • ...and more

Your climate action plan

Use the program to develop a customized plan for yourself, including:

  • Identifying where your coding skills are most needed in climate
  • Making your first contribution tailored to your skills and the path you'd like to follow
  • Understanding how to make a career out of it - what roles, which companies, what communities
  • Actually building your first climate network to get you started

Up-to-date material

We update our learning material to stay cutting-edge:

  • Latest developments on the science, climate impacts
  • New market solutions
  • Lifetime access for fellows

Pricing and expected commitment

US$ 799 / 6 weeks

or 3 installments of $266/mo.

Intensive program

6 week duration, with 5 hours of time commitment per week.

Exclusive events

3+ sector deep dives from experts, also available for later viewing.

Focused groups

Each class has just 20-25 fellows with a diversity of skills, background & passion.

100% Online

100% online, with instructors available via Zoom, Slack and email.

Hear from our software community

Ha Vu

The course contents are amazingly comprehensive and organized, covering an impressive range of issues and solutions within this enormous space of climate work. I also enjoyed interacting with classmates from around the world who are passionate in their love for planet, amazingly well-informed, and accomplished.

  • Software Engineer, Sidewalk Labs (USA)
Oscar Romero

Terra had a beautifully designed guided course that helped me understand what has been happening in the Climate space, what is currently ongoing, and where I best saw a fit for myself to engage moving forward. Now, I can confidently move forward knowing that I'm going in the right direction.

  • Senior Software Engineer, Levvel (USA)
Peter Cliff

I absolutely loved the guest speakers. They were kind, interesting, honest, enthusiastic and inspirational.

  • Technical Architect, Oxfam (UK)
Fotis Papadopoulos

Overall great experience, well-informed instructors and a diverse group in the cohort, as well as some quite informative guest talks.

  • Engineering Manager, Beat (Netherlands)

Who is this program for?

The program is perfect for anyone looking to contribute to climate action via software engineering. Software engineers and engineering managers of all stripes—full stack, front-end, back-end, mobile, data, DevOps, or embedded engineer—are welcome in the program.

Join the waitlist
Committed

You’re looking for climate challenges to apply your software skills towards.

Skilled

You’re an active coder (at least semi-professionally), and think software can contribute to solve almost any problem.

Sufficient time

You have sufficient time (5 hours/week) to dedicate to the program.

No Software Background

You're not professionally involved in software.

Too Busy

You don’t have the time to commit to a deep dive right now (you can always apply for later cohorts).

Frequently asked questions

This program is designed for anyone in the software ecosystem looking to apply their skills for climate action. All kinds of software engineers, and engineering team leads are all welcome. See the course description and syllabus for more details.

If you’re less than 3 weeks in, we’ll refund you 100%. Our only request is that you give us feedback so we can make improvements.

The course is 6 weeks long. The program is a combination of asynchronous classes and live seminars/workshops. We encourage a diverse global pool of participants and understand that live event time might not work for everyone. As such, all classes will be recorded for later viewing at your convenience. We will also have a Slack channel to facilitate asynchronous discussions for the global cohort. Our expectation is that everyone will be back in sync when a new week starts.

We want this program to work for learners of all stripes, regardless of individual or organizational ability to pay. Please apply—we will make every effort to accommodate the circumstances of qualified students.

Several organizations have learning or professional development budgets for their employees. We encourage you to enquire about and utilize this budget to attend the course. Terra.do will help you get reimbursed for the course by providing an invoice, a certificate, and any other documentation you need. If you have approval from your company, we can also arrange for your company to pay directly.

This is our second cohort and we expect to run more cohorts given ongoing demand for this course.

Kickstart your climate action journey

Join our community of professionals, experts, and educators working on climate change.

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Join our mission of getting 100 million people to work directly on climate in this decade.

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