Recommendations for a new publicly-accessible global climate data utility

The Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC) has published recommendations for the creation of the Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU), which will be a new open-data utility to address data gaps, inconsistencies and inaccessibility of climate data (see GFANZ press release).

The general consensus is that openly available data is critical to achieving the pace of change needed to combat climate change and is key to the evaluation of climate risks and progress made by businesses and financial institutions on alignment with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. The holy grail of climate data being data that is reliable and comparable. But at present most climate data is only available through commercial subscriptions or by paying platform fees, plus it is often presented in proprietary formats making it difficult to aggregate or compare.

The CDSC recommend that the main purpose of the new utility is to give investors and public the information they need to make informed decisions and hold companies accountable to backing their climate pledges with real action. It is the first of its kind, with some heralding it as potential game changer.

The Committee was formed by French President Emmanuel Macron and Michael Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action, and is chaired by Mary Schapiro. It brings together data providers, financial institutions, regulators  and global standard setters – including the ISSB, EFRAG, IOSCO, NGFS, Bloomberg, London Stock Exchange Group, Morningstar, MSCI, Moody’s, S&P Global and the CDP. The technical lead for the Committee is Simone Kramer, director of data strategy at GFANZ.

The Committee has recommended that the first phase of the NZDPU include the following:

• company and financial institution-level data for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, reported in units of CO2 equivalent (CO2e).
• transparently reported net-zero targets that also detail the specific actions intended to reach net zero, including transparency on carbon credits or other strategies, where applicable; and
• openly accessible statistical classification information and an accessible user interface.

Helpfully, the CDSC recommend that the new free-to-use data portal not be limited to just data on emissions – it should also include information on whether a company or financial institution has set any climate targets and how it proposes to meet those targets, as well as information about its use of carbon credits/offsets and whether the data provided has been externally verified.

Also, the Committee wants to harmonise the data in the portal as much as possible with existing and upcoming reporting regulatory requirements – thus the involvement in the project of standard setters such as the ISSB and EFRAG. 

On Scope 3 emissions, the Committee are reported as having recommended that the NZDPU take a flexible and phased approach to the inclusion of data on supply chain emissions, as this is still a difficult area for many companies and financial institutions (see here). It’s envisaged that forthcoming EU and US rules requiring the provision of data on Scope 3 emissions will make it easier for that information to be added to the NZDPU in due course.

The recommendations are open for public consultation until 20 October and the Committee aims to put out, at COP27 in November, a formal request for technical resources to build the platform.

For more information on the key existing and upcoming climate/sustainability disclosure regimes, including the work of the ISSB and EFRAG, see our back to basics guide and series of podcasts on the ESG Summer School 2022.