Liberate Data

The COP28 round of United Nations Climate Change negotiations in Dubai was historic for a number of reasons:

• An estimated 100,000 people attended, across the negotiating venue and the ticketed ‘Green Zone’.
• The global community of nations committed to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems” for the first time.
• A fund dedicated to addressing climate-related Loss and Damage was finally established.

One item that slipped under the radar, for many who reported on the COP, was the announcement of a Net Zero Data Public Utility. The NZDPU is an effort to make available to all countries, and to the general public, actionable information about the status of net zero commitments and pathways, data that shows the effectiveness of decarbonization strategies, and other insights that can be used to grade climate policies and select between commercial goods and services.

The NZDPU is described as “a centralized repository of global company-level greenhouse gas emissions data.” The standards set for its design, development, and end-user accessibility are simple, clear, and focused on fairness: “Free. Transparent. Accessible to all.”

In Dubai, some nations, and many civil society observers and stakeholder representatives, noted the value of this new data public utility for allowing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to create products and services at all scales, to help investors, government agencies, other SMEs and consumers select among more and less climate-resilient options. The DPU is, then, a magnet for investment to flow into those SMEs, and provides an important means of expanding and diversifying the green economy.

At Liberate Data, we note also the importance of this kind of free public service for moving the world beyond the first-mover phase, when only the most well-positioned or ambitious companies voluntarily report their net-zero plans and progress. Universal access to net zero planning and performance data creates a competition incentive: those businesses that are more ambitious, innovative, and effective in meeting this universally relevant standard of progress toward net zero will become more attractive to both investors and consumers.

The COP28 produced mixed outcomes, by many measures. The burst of new fossil fuel deal-making during and after the conference, by participating countries, including the host country, is a worrying sign. But overall, the COP28 consolidated the clear signal that the future of high-value innovation and enterprise lies in clean energy and climate-resilient development.

• 161 nations also committed to add food systems to their national climate action and sustainable development strategies.
• Trade was on the table for the first time, in a robust, multidimensional way, with recognition that all trade and finance must begin to align with climate resilience.
• There was even universal recognition of the need to ensure “the integrity of all ecosystems, including in forests, the ocean, mountains, and the cryosphere”—possibly the highest ambition principle ever acknowledged by the Conference of Parties to the Climate Convention.

Data is part of the story, both because the NZDPU creates a new competition incentive in the race to zero emissions and because innovations in finance, food systems, and intergovernmental cooperation will bring new opportunities for integrated data systems and multidimensional performance metrics. Increasingly, small-scale actors and local communities will have the ability to diversify and expand their economic opportunities, by downscaling data and finance and providing evidence of better effects on climate and nature.

Liberate Data views this new age of climate data opportunity as carrying us beyond the commodification of nature. Rather than trading credits and offsets, investors and industries will have enhanced opportunity to capture investment by demonstrating that activities with economic value have enhanced value by not degrading natural systems, including climate conditions.