Climate Action

The climate action module investigates national and sub-national climate action data as a critical tool for increasing the number and diversity of climate actors and supporting the expansion and ambition of mitigation and adaptation efforts.

In developing this module, a number of intersections with other current GDB modules were identified, notably energy, land, and public procurement. Indicators and sub-question elements from these modules may contribute to the climate action module, including: data on protected areas, concessions, forested areas, and land change; procurement data on environmental impact assessments; and data on the generation, distribution, and reliability of renewable energy.

To find out more about the development of this thematic module, you can consult our research handbook.

Theme updates

Climate action indicators

Availability: Emission

To what extent is emissions information available as open data?

Existence

  • Is this data available online in any form?
    • Data is not available online.
    • Data is available, but not as a result of government action.
    • Data is available from government, or because of government actions.

Elements

Data fields and quality:

  • Nationally published data includes detailed information on greenhouse gas emissions and targets reported to the UNFCCC. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data contains detailed information on sources of greenhouse gas emissions. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Emissions data includes, or site where emissions data is made available links to, details of land use effects on emissions. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The dataset contains unique identifiers for greenhouse gas emissions that allow easy assessment across inventories, reduction commitments, and sources. (No, Partially, Yes)

Data openness, timing, and structure:

  • Dataset is available free of charge. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is openly licensed. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is available in all the country’s official or national languages. If the country has no official or national languages, data is available in the major languages of the country. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • There are accessible and open official tools available to help users explore data. (No, Partially , Yes)
  • Data is timely and updated. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Historical data is available that allows users to track change over time. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is provided in machine-readable format(s) (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The machine-readable dataset is available as a whole (No, Partially, Yes)

Negative scoring:

  • This information is missing required data.
  • The availability of this data has been affected by government response to COVID-19. (No, Partially, Yes)

Extent

  • How comprehensive is the data assessed for this question?
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without available data, or with data of a lesser quality.
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, and is a representative example of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities.
    • The data assessed provides national coverage.

Availability: Biodiversity

To what extent is information on endangered species and ecosystems available as open data?

Existence

  • Is this data available online in any form?
    • Data is not available online.
    • Data is available, but not as a result of government action.
    • Data is available from government, or because of government actions.

Elements

Kinds of data:

  • Data includes mammals. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data includes birds. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data includes reptiles. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data includes amphibians. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data includes fish. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data includes invertebrates. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data includes fungi and lichen. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data includes non-vascular plants. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data includes vascular plants. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data includes a “green” list, or detailed information on species or ecosystems recovering from danger, threat, or vulnerability. (No, Partially, Yes)

Data fields and quality:

  • The data is published according to one or more relevant data standards. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is nationally validated by the government. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • A mechanism allows additional actors to contribute to the data repository. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Limitations of the data are clearly stated. (No, Partially, Yes)

Data openness, timing, and structure:

  • Dataset is available free of charge. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is openly licensed. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is available in all the country’s official or national languages. If the country has no official or national languages, data is available in the major languages of the country. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • There are accessible and open official tools available to help users explore data. (No, Partially , Yes)
  • Data is timely and updated. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Historical data is available that allows users to track change over time. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is provided in machine-readable format(s) (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The machine-readable dataset is available as a whole (No, Partially, Yes)

Negative scoring:

  • The availability of this data has been affected by government response to COVID-19. (No, Partially, Yes)

Extent

  • How comprehensive is the data assessed for this question?
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without available data, or with data of a lesser quality.
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, and is a representative example of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities.
    • The data assessed provides national coverage.

Availability: Vulnerability

To what extent is climate vulnerability information available as open data?

Existence

  • Is this data available online in any form?
    • Data is not available online.
    • Data is available, but not as a result of government action.
    • Data is available from government, or because of government actions.

Elements

Data fields and quality:

  • The data contains information on future natural hazards, extreme weather events, and climate variability. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The data contains information on poverty, gender, and marginalized populations. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The data draws on granular local information. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data based on projections draws on transparent and open models. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • A mechanism allows additional actors to contribute to the data repository. (No, Partially, Yes)

Data openness, timing, and structure:

  • Dataset is available free of charge. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is openly licensed. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is available in all the country’s official or national languages. If the country has no official or national languages, data is available in the major languages of the country. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • There are accessible and open official tools available to help users explore data. (No, Partially , Yes)
  • Data is timely and updated. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Historical data is available that allows users to track change over time. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is provided in machine-readable format(s) (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The machine-readable dataset is available as a whole (No, Partially, Yes)

Negative scoring:

  • This information is missing required data.
  • The availability of this data has been affected by government response to COVID-19. (No, Partially, Yes)

Extent

  • How comprehensive is the data assessed for this question?
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without available data, or with data of a lesser quality.
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, and is a representative example of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities.
    • The data assessed provides national coverage.