The tech industry talks about AI's carbon footprint. Nolwenn Godard says the real issue is resource limits: energy, water, rare earth minerals. "Tech doesn't want any limit, but the world has limits, nature has limits."

Nolwenn spent 13 years at PayPal, where she pitched a carbon calculator that was too early for a US conversation. She went on to help write California's first executive order on Generative AI in just 60 days, fighting to get climate language into the policy. Today she runs Carbon 2C, helping software companies find the massive waste hiding in their own codebases.

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In this episode, we cover:

The physics of why an AI query uses dramatically more energy than a Google search
How she got climate language into California's GenAI executive order in 60 days, and the moment she asked "Am I the only one thinking of this here?"
Why companies are going quiet on climate ("green hushing") even when they still want to act
Her argument that resource limits, not just carbon, are the real environmental cost of AI
Where to start if you're a product manager, engineer, or CTO who wants to find the climate lever in your current role

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About Nolwenn Godard

Nolwenn Godard helps turn tech jobs into climate jobs. After leadership roles at PayPal, SoFi, and California's Office of Data and Innovation, she founded Carbon 2C, her sustainability consultancy for software companies. She co-authored Sustainable by Design: A Playbook for Product Managers, leads Green IO US, and co-leads the SF chapter of the Green Software Foundation.