As COP29 convenes, world leaders, researchers, and activists are focusing on the urgent actions needed to combat climate change. This is a pivotal opportunity to address one essential, often-overlooked tool in climate action: openly accessible climate data. With open climate data, we can make more informed decisions, track progress, and hold polluters to account for their impact on the planet. However, despite being publicly available, much of the data generated from climate studies and impact assessments is often locked under restrictive licenses, impeding accessibility and collaboration.
Public Data vs. Open Data: Why Licensing Matters
Although many organizations release climate data publicly, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s open. Data that lacks a clear open license can’t be freely used, modified, or shared by others. For example, if a data repository is listed as public data but does not have an explicit open data license, it would then require you to get permission from all third parties that contributed data, which could be a time-consuming and costly exercise. This means in many cases the data cannot be used at all in advocacy or other such work.
Without clear guidance, data users face legal limitations on repurposing information, which hinders collaborative efforts to create new tools, analyses, and resources. In the context of climate action, this restriction is particularly limiting, as effective advocacy depends on integrating diverse data sources.
Open Data at COP29: Why This Moment Matters
COP29 is a critical venue for advocating for open data as governments and organizations discuss climate goals, adaptation, and finance frameworks, they’re also establishing new methods for tracking and reporting progress. Integrating open data principles now can ensure that the data produced is transparent and accessible to all. Climate activists, researchers, open data enthusiasts, and policy-makers can take steps to achieve this at COP 29 and similar events by emphasizing the importance of adopting open licenses in the public sector and government data, but also any data that was generated using public funding as it should therefore be a public good.
A Call to Action for Open Climate Data
As COP29 unfolds, it’s a reminder that open data is a powerful tool for change, enabling broader collaboration, innovation, and accountability. To maximize the impact of climate data, it must be openly accessible, with clear licenses that allow it to be used, modified, and shared freely.
Adopting open licenses is a critical step towards a transparent, data-driven climate response that truly serves the global community. At this pivotal moment, let’s make climate data as open and actionable as possible.
If you have published or are planning to publish a climate dataset and have questions about selecting the right license, feel free to reach out to info@wikirate.org
