Google of Climate Data’ Surpasses 25K Datasets + Identifies Critical Energy Data Gaps

• World’s largest climate data catalogue has expanded tenfold in ten months – with a further 25k datasets set to be added by December 2023

• Public portal founded by global tech accelerator Subak is making environmental data more searchable, trusted and connected to help accelerate climate impact 

• Milestone coincides with Subak’s new report highlighting critical data gaps in energy sector

 Subak’s Data Catalogue, the world’s most comprehensive climate database, has surpassed 25,000 datasets and publishes its first report identifying critical gaps in energy data.

Founded by global not-for-profit tech accelerator and data community Subak in 2022, the public portal has been dubbed the ‘Google of climate data’ and is helping analysts, policymakers and corporations to identify climate risks and accelerate decarbonisation efforts around the world.

While other databases already exist in specific sectors such as energy and policy, Subak’s catalogue connects datasets across a range of sectors from electric cars, green energy and heat decarbonisation to agriculture and deforestation.

Recommended AI: Google Cloud Announces Biggest-ever Upgrade to Vertex AI

Using this unique cross-sector approach, Subak’s data team is producing a series of reports and data showcases identifying neglected climate areas and gaps in available data.

The first report in this series analyses global energy data – connecting 418 datasets from disparate sources and interviewing 12 data professionals from leading organisations.

The report presents a comprehensive index of power plant data, which is widely recognised as one of the sectors that most urgently needs to decarbonise. Its findings highlight three key problems in data transparency that the sector must address to reduce fossil fuel consumption and improve accountability.

1. Electricity system operators all collect generation data but it’s not always open or in the formats required, forcing experts to develop time-consuming workarounds to obtain data that’s not readily available
2. Market intelligence is often locked behind expensive paywalls and can’t be reshared, creating access barriers for researchers
3. Non-profit data aggregators struggle to keep persistent data assets due to a lack of core funding as they create downstream, rather than direct impact

The datasets used in this report come from the analysts, researchers and engineers in Subak’s Data Cooperative (a growing community of organisations and individuals who share data to tackle climate change), and public datasets harvested from over 2,100 organisations including the UK’s National Grid, Global Energy Monitor and World Resources Institute.

Jake Verma, Subak’s Data Cooperative Manager, said: “We’re immensely proud of how the Data Catalogue has expanded in just ten months. Shared data will be vital in the fight against climate change. By increasing cross-sector data transparency, we can avoid expensive and unnecessary duplication of research and lower the barrier to entry for those addressing climate change.

Recommended AI: AI in Retail: Israeli Startup Hexa is Enabling Shoppers to View Products in 360 Degrees & Try Them Virtually

“Our research on energy data proves we still have a long way to go – the sector is plagued with a lack of open data. If we’re serious about decarbonising global energy production, we must make data open and accessible. How else can we track our progress towards net zero and hold accountable those who are falling behind?

“This challenge is not unique to the energy landscape – a large amount of data is getting lost or disconnected in every sector. We’re using the Data Catalogue to identify these gaps. We want to help all organisations and individuals, large and small, for-profit and not-for-profit, to find the climate data they need quickly and efficiently.

Recommended AI: Is Customer Experience Strategy Making or Breaking Your ‘Shopping Festival’ Sales?

[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]