Over 200 people died in unprecedented flooding in Spain just last month, while wildfires continue to devastate communities across the globe.
This is only the beginning, as the deadly effects of climate change are rapidly intensifying across the globe. The World Meteorological Organization reported 2023 as the hottest year ever recorded, a troubling – yet unsurprising – sign that this trend is only poised to continue.
However, while research might indicate we’re almost too late to the “solve” the climate crisis, we’re not too late to mitigate negative impacts of our warming planet. Just look at Spain, where countless lives could’ve been saved had the appropriate early warning systems been in place.
These systems, like all effective means of climate action, rely on access to data.
Relevant, accessible data can play a key role in facilitating crucial climate action – for mitigation, adaptation, and disaster response. We’ve seen it in Kerala, India, for example, where the government has partnered with the World Bank to promote data driven solutions that foster resilience against flooding and other climate disasters.
Yet, in many cases, while large amounts of climate data already exist, much of it is locked away, housed by private companies, governments, and academic institutions, leaving it inaccessible to those on the frontlines who need it most.
To tackle this this critical challenge, leading actors from across the digital and climate spaces – including The International Telecommunications Union, TetraTech, World Resources Institute, and The Digital Impact Alliance – have spent the past year exploring solutions. Our collaborative research identified four emerging models for data governance – data trusts, open transaction networks, data spaces, and open data – each with the potential to address challenges to accessibility, trust, financing, and capacity with the goal of accelerating climate action.
Today, we’re launching a new flagship report, Beyond the tipping point: How climate data can decide our future. As the culmination of our research, this report not only dives deep into the intricacies of data governance models, but it also provides actionable recommendations stakeholders can – and should – take to unlock critical climate data.
The new flagship report features key insights across the four different models. Here’s a look into what we found:
These models have proven to work for different needs, especially when tailored to specific use cases. The appropriate data sharing model for a given use case depends on factors such as the type of data, privacy requirements, the level of oversight required, and stakeholder needs.
Call to action: For the estimated 14.5 million people who will die from climate change related deaths by 2050, these solutions could be literally lifesaving. This is why we must prioritize data sharing for a variety of different climate-relevant use cases.
These models offer a critical path forward, but innovative financing is needed. The entities driving these data sharing innovations are struggling to attract the financing they need, particularly as they rely on hybrid financing models that do not neatly fall into typical categories of private, public, and not-for-profit.
Call to action: With 47% of climate research currently inaccessible, we must invest in innovative governance models that can promote secure, trusted data sharing for those on the frontlines.
Our insights can provide critical guidance to unlock climate-relevant data for those who need it most.
Our body of research provides actionable insights for key stakeholders, including data owners, aggregators, funders, and users. In particular, these efforts can support frontline actors (largely subnational governments) to gain access to key information like geospatial data, weather patterns, heat maps, and more, which may otherwise remain inaccessible or financially infeasible.
Climate relevant data is especially important for those living in low- and middle- income countries, who often face the highest risk of climate displacement, despite being least responsible for carbon emissions. As temperatures continue to rise, portions of the Global South could become essentially unlivable due to extreme heat – accounting for up to 19% of the world by 2070. In low-resource contexts, data-driven decision making can mean the difference between wasting or optimizing critical resources.
The final report provides an outline of the steps these different actors can take to promote the data needed to adapt, mitigate, and respond to pressing climate concerns.
Media contact:
For more information or to discuss the report and its findings with media spokespeople, please reach out to our media lead on climate and data.
Arielle Diamond: Senior Communications Manager
Email: adiamond@dial.global
WhatsApp: +1 201-602-4587
