Public data registries for climate action

🚀 25 years in the making—#OpenCEDA is live! When I released the very first version of the Comprehensive Environmental Data Archive (CEDA) back in 2000 as a PhD student at Leiden, I imagined a world where rigorous, transparent Scope 3 data would be available to anyone tackling climate change. Today that vision becomes reality. CEDA is now free and open to the public at openceda.org—unlocking >95 % of global GDP/GHG coverage, 400 industry sectors across 148 countries and regions, and tens of thousands of up-to-date emissions factors, refreshed annually. This milestone is the work of an incredible community. Deep gratitude to Mo Li, Ph.D., Cheng Lin, Yohanna Maldonado, Michael Steffen, Jake Feintzeig, Jonathan Gidden, Gizem Ilayda Dinç Liston Witherill, Christian Anderson—and every researcher, practitioner, and customer who has shaped CEDA since its 2000 debut. Whether you’re a start-up calculating your footprint, a Fortune 500 driving supply-chain decarbonization, or a researcher pushing LCA boundaries—this data is yours. Dive in, build, question, and tag me with what you create. Let’s accelerate climate action together! #Scope3 #LCA #GHGAccounting #OpenData #Sustainability #ClimateTech

📢 OUT NOW: New paper published in Environmental and Resource Economics: 'The Climate Actions and Policies Measurement Framework: A Database to Monitor and Assess Countries’ Mitigation Action'   With more than 300.000 data points, the CAPMF is the most extensive climate mitigation policy database to date, monitoring countries' climate policies consistently for 50 OECD and OECD partner countries and the European Union from 1990 to 2022.   Key Highlights: ✅ Countries strengthened their climate action between 1990 and 2022 in terms of policy adoption and policy stringency, although at different paces ✅ Policy adoption, policy stringency and policy mixes changed over time and differ substantially across countries and country groups. ✅ significant relationship between stronger climate action and greater emission reductions. Mitigation policies helped reduce emissions by about 12% in the last 5 years; ✅ most of this reduction is attributable to a reduction in the energy intensity of the economy   Great collaboration between OECD Environment (Ivan Haščič Miguel Cárdenas Rodríguez Rodrigo Pizarro Gariazzo) and OECD Economy (Luisa Lutz Tobias Kruse Filippo Maria D'Arcangelo)   Find out more: 📃 Paper (open access): https://lnkd.in/e6xvR3Wh 📊 Database (open access): https://oe.cd/dx/capmf #ClimateChange #EnvironmentalPolicy #Sustainability #Climatepolicy 

𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝗳 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗔 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗨𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜 𝗧𝗼 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗘𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗲. In a world where climate action can often feel daunting, having access to precise, actionable data can give us a clear way forward. Imagine having the ability to understand where your city's emissions are coming from, be it where we live or near our workplaces.   I was recently exploring the Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE), developed by Google. EIE, helps cities/regions measure emission sources and refine strategies to reduce emissions by leveraging access to Google’s mapping data and machine learning capabilities. With a few clicks, EIE reveals the emissions footprint from heating, cooling, and powering residential and commercial buildings. This data can help develop usable insights that act as a roadmap showing how and where to reduce energy consumption and switch to greener alternatives. There are additional features, like measuring the transportation impact, rooftop solar panel potential, and tree canopy coverage across different areas in the city. Air quality data is also available for certain cities across the globe. Public data is currently available for viewing for > 2,400 places in a database that comprises thousands of cities/regions. What an interesting and usable example of leveraging data for impact in local communities – while leveraging AI for climate change solutions and intelligent emissions reductions. Image Source: Google Environmental Insights Explorer Website  #techonology #sustainability #future #impact

In this oped, Justin Mankin makes great points about society's need for access to physical climate risk data as a public good. There is too much at stake to leave the dissemination of critical climate risk data entirely to the realm of consultants and data providers. The same case could be made on the need to make data on climate mitigation and transition risk more widely available. CDP gathers a lot of this data, but does not provide (except in a very limited way) to the general public. Private data platforms like Bloomberg or LSEG Data & Analytics are expensive and often unreliable. Gathering unstructured data from individual company sustainability reports is often the only option for stakeholders -- but this is time consuming and labor intensive. We are encouraged by news of the establishment of a Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU), designed to be integrated into the UN Climate Change Global Climate Action Portal, as well as the COP28 launch of a live demo ("proof of concept"). This offers up the alluring possibility of a global, open repository for transition-related data, free of charge. Having such a platform is a critical ingredient to a deeper understanding of progress, opportunities and obstacles to the energy transition. https://lnkd.in/ed6aBAp3

How can data help us tackle environmental challenges like climate change and deforestation? The Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative (ASDI) is making waves by connecting researchers, businesses, and governments with powerful environmental data resources, so they can take meaningful action on critical issues. Imagine trying to assess the impact of deforestation across a supply chain: The data needed is vast and complex. ASDI steps in to simplify that, offering global datasets for studying climate, natural resources, and biodiversity—all on a shared platform. Take Apple, for example. With ASDI data, they were able to pinpoint specific areas where deforestation was affecting their supply chain and then invest in reforestation. It’s not just corporations benefitting either; in California, government agencies used ASDI’s satellite imagery to identify parts of the coastline most at risk of erosion from rising sea levels, allowing for focused conservation efforts. These stories show that ASDI is more than just a data platform; it’s a tool for turning complex environmental data into clear insights. Having easy access to such data can make all the difference. Researchers, environmental groups, and businesses alike can now collaborate more easily, using shared knowledge to address sustainability challenges more effectively. For those interested in exploring ASDI’s offerings, the AWS Registry of Open Data provides tutorials and hands-on resources that make this data accessible to anyone. Tackling environmental issues takes a collective effort, and initiatives like ASDI are opening doors for more people to get involved in finding solutions that benefit us all. #Biodiversity #DataAnalysis #Sustainability #ClimateChange #EnvironmentalSustainability