Implementing Open Data Strategies for Climate Action: Suggestions And Lessons Learned for Government and Civil Society Stakeholders

The document argues that open data—datasets freely available for use and redistribution—is essential for a coordinated, whole-of-society response to climate change. It identifies five primary benefits of open data: improved data coordination and quality, more informed decision-making, the creation of novel partnerships, the democratization of climate modeling, and enhanced monitoring of policies and programs. The paper draws on a literature review, expert consultations, and pilot projects in Chile and Uruguay (conducted between August 2019 and August 2020) to provide a methodology for stakeholders to assess and improve the openness of climate-relevant datasets.

• Open data provides five specific advantages for climate action: it improves data coordination and quality by reducing duplicative investments; informs decision-making by reducing fragmentation; fosters novel partnerships and trust between actors; democratizes modeling by allowing global models to be downscaled to local contexts; and enhances policy monitoring and accountability, including reporting frameworks under the Paris Agreement.
• The document highlights several real-world applications of open data: Chile's CR2 uses open data for national climate models; Colombia's Aclímate platform helps farmers adapt to weather patterns; Indonesia's InaSAFE platform coordinated disaster response after the 2016 Aceh earthquake; and a coalition in Spain used open datasets to monitor progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 13.
• Climate-related data is frequently hindered by being incomplete, fragmented across different agencies, or provided in formats that are difficult to reuse, which limits its value for decision-making.
• The research for this paper involved a collaboration with the Open Data Charter and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), featuring a pilot methodology tested with partners in Chile and Uruguay from August 2019 to August 2020.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Implementing Open Data Strategies for Climate Action: Suggestions And Lessons Learned for Government and Civil Society Stakeholders. https://www.wri.org/research/implementing-open-data-strategies-climate-action-suggestions-and-lessons-learned

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Implementing Open Data Strategies for Climate Action: Suggestions And Lessons Learned for Government and Civil Society Stakeholders. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/implementing-open-data-strategies-climate-action-suggestions-and-lessons-learned.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Implementing Open Data Strategies for Climate Action: Suggestions And Lessons Learned for Government and Civil Society Stakeholders |url=https://www.wri.org/research/implementing-open-data-strategies-climate-action-suggestions-and-lessons-learned |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendimplementing, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Implementing Open Data Strategies for Climate Action: Suggestions And Lessons Learned for Government and Civil Society Stakeholders}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/implementing-open-data-strategies-climate-action-suggestions-and-lessons-learned}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }