Subak launches open climate and energy data catalogue

Subak has launched a new online catalogue of open climate and energy data to help academics, policy-makers and businesses to identify climate-related risks and opportunities and gauge decarbonisation efforts.

The not-for-profit technology accelerator said the portal already features more than 2,300 datasets gathered from analysts, researchers and engineers in its growing Data Cooperative, as well as publicly available information harvested from companies like National Grid.

Sunak said the platform curates and connects datasets on a range of topics such as green energy, electric vehicles and heat decarbonisation. They will be regularly reviewed to rate their “freshness” and any dead links will be removed. The catalogue also displays how the data has been used previously.

Jake Verma, Subak’s Data Cooperative manager, said: “We want to build the Google of climate data, so that all organisations and individuals, large and small, for-profit and not-for-profit, will be able to find the climate data they want quickly and efficiently.

“Too often environmental data is lost or siloed in different organisations. Shared data is a vital piece of the puzzle 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.”

He continued: “Our first focus is to develop a comprehensive index of power plant data, as this is one of the sectors that must urgently decarbonise to hit net zero targets.

“We are calling for researchers who can develop innovative power plant data projects for the catalogue, so if you want to make a difference and develop insights in this important climate sector, we would strongly encourage you to apply.”

Subak was founded in 2020 by Baroness Bryony Worthington, the lead author of the UK’s Climate Change Act.