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The Climate Data Steering Committee

Solving the climate data challenge

Mitigating the worst impacts of climate change requires the world to accelerate actions to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.

More than 100 countries have either adopted, announced, or are discussing net-zero commitments, covering more than two-thirds of global GHG emissions. While various net-zero emissions pledges have been made, they differ in terms of scope and specificity, and to date, limited policies are in place to deliver on them, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The lack of accessible, high-quality, and consistent data remains one of the biggest challenges for turning net-zero pledges into action.

To deliver the transition to a net-zero economy, we need to address challenges tied to the global availability, comparability, and transparency of climate transition-related data.

Financial institutions need emissions data to assess the carbon footprint and associated climate risk of its investments; as well as to build key models and analytics and develop transition plans.

Civil society needs open access to data to drive collaborative progress with companies and other partners across the global economy.

Companies need comprehensive data on their value chains to measure and disclose their Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. They also need to be able to benchmark their performance against their peers.

Academic institutions need access to open data to conduct research on climate progress.

Policymakers and regulators need reliable data on greenhouse gas emission reductions to measure progress and develop public policy.

UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, Michael R. Bloomberg and French President Emmanuel Macron at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. November 10, 2022.

Increasing the integrity, comparability, and transparency of key climate data

In 2022, the CDSC came together to produce a vision for the development of an open data utility for private sector climate transition-related data: the Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU or Utility). As envisioned by the CDSC, the NZDPU aims to become a global, centralized, open repository for private sector climate transition-related data, that is freely available to all stakeholders helping to accelerate efforts to direct capital to low- or zero-carbon investments, and provide the ability to monitor progress against emissions reductions targets.

The Release of the Net-Zero Data Public Utility
Proof of Concept

Released at COP28, the proof of concept represents a significant step towards the CDSC’s 2022 recommendations for the development of a global, centralized, open repository for private sector climate transition-related data: the Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU).

The CDSC envisions that the NZDPU will be a freely available repository for all stakeholders to easily access and interpret a core set of company-level data that is critical for driving progress and managing risks and opportunities in the net-zero transition.

The NZDPU will be developed under a phased and iterative approach. Therefore, the proof of concept includes an initial set of data fields, features, and functionality to solicit stakeholder insights that will help to inform future releases.

The NZDPU Proof of Concept

The CDSC oversees the ongoing development of the NZDPU and, informed by actors across the global economy including climate data providers and civil society, come together to deliver a forward-looking strategic vision for more accessible climate data.

The committee held a public consultation from December 1, 2023 through April 1, 2024.

Hear from Members of the Committee

Bringing global leaders together

The CDSC brings together global leaders, including regulators, policymakers, and standards setters, informed by data providers and civil society organizations to accelerate climate action by driving forward global momentum for the private sector to report and disclose key company-level climate transition-related data critical to delivering a net-zero economy.

CDSC members:

Ashley Alder
Chair, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), United Kingdom

Bruno Le Maire
Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, France

Daniela Stoffel
State Secretary for International Finance, Swiss Federal Department of Finance, Switzerland

Emmanuel Faber
Chair, International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)

Fatih Birol
Executive Director, International Energy Agency (IEA)

Herbert Krapa
Minister-of-State in charge of Energy, Ghana

Jean-Paul Servais
Chair, International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)

Klaas Knot
Chair, Financial Stability Board (FSB)

Kristalina Georgieva
Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Mairead McGuinness
Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, European Commission

Mario Marcel
Minister of Finance, Chile

Mark Carney
Co-Chair, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)

Mary Schapiro
Chair, Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC)

Mathias Cormann
Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Nellie Liang
Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, United States Treasury Department

Patrick de Cambourg
Chair of Sustainability Reporting Board, European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG)

Sabine Mauderer
Chair, Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS)

Shigeru Ariizumi
Vice Minister for International Affairs, Japan Financial Services Agency

Simon Stiell
Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change  (UNFCCC)

CDSC observers:

Catherine McKenna
Chair, UNSG High-level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments

Ravi Menon
Ambassador for Climate Action, Singapore

To drive forward global momentum for the private sector to disclose key climate data, the CDSC will advise on and oversee the creation of a unified, global, open-access climate data repository of climate transition-related data.

Publications

Learn more about CDSC and NZDPU progress in 2023

The CDSC progress report describes the development of the NZDPU in 2023 and key areas where further progress is needed to increase the comparability, consistency, coverage, quality, and completeness of private sector climate data.

Read the CDSC’s recommendations for the development of the NZDPU

In November 2022, the CDSC released its initial recommendations for the phased and iterative development of the NZDPU following a public consultation.

Learn more about the recommendations development process

In November 2022, the CDSC released its overview of its four-week consultation and other forms of external engagement used to compile the Draft Recommendations for the Development of the Net-Zero Data Public Utility

Meeting notes

The Climate Data Steering Committee holds regular working-level meetings of delegates appointed by CDSC members, and periodic principal-level meetings. Summaries of these meetings are provided below.

Delegates Meeting

June 27, 2024

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Delegates Meeting

March 27, 2024

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Delegates Meeting

October 25, 2023

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Principals Meeting

September 19, 2023

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Delegates Meeting

September 18, 2023

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Delegates Meeting

July 12, 2023

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Delegates Meeting

May 10, 2023

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Delegates Meeting

March 1 and 22, 2023

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Recent news

Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC): President Emmanuel Macron and Michael R. Bloomberg Deliver Proof Of Concept For Groundbreaking Net-Zero Data Public Utility At COP28 (12/02/23)

Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ): GFANZ Principals Group Issues Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU) Statement of Support (12/03/23)

Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Singapore Exchange (SGX Group): MAS and SGX Group to collaborate with the Climate Data Steering Committee to strengthen global access to climate transition-related data (06/27/23)

Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC): Swiss Financial Centre Actors Unite To Help Develop Net-Zero Data Public Utility (06/26/23)

Le Figaro: Climate: standards for comparing corporate action (06/03/22)

Reuters: Macron, Bloomberg seek better monitoring of business climate action (06/03/22)

Élysée: Qu’est-ce que le One Planet Data hub? (What is the One Planet Data hub?) (06/03/22)

Responsible Investor: ESG round-up: Macron and Bloomberg announce climate data steering committee (06/07/22)

Le Monde: Climate: ‘Without data, there is no way for the public to hold companies accountable’ (06/10/22)

Bloomberg Philanthropies: Climate Data Steering Committee Proposes Recommendations for the Development of First-Ever Publicly Accessible Climate Data Utility. (09/21/22)

Environmental Finance: Macron and Bloomberg propose ‘open’ climate data platform (09/22/22)

ESG Investor: Plans for Climate Data Utility Unveiled at UNGA (09/22/22)

Finextra: Net-Zero committee proposes creation of climate data utility (09/22/22)

Financial Times: Eight themes to watch after UNGA week (09/26/22)

Regulation Asia: International Committee to create Public Utility for Net-Zero Data (09/28/22)

Le Monde: COP27: ‘Climate data must be built and used for the common good’ (11/06/22)

Regulation Asia: Net-Zero Data Public Utility to launch as Beta in H2 2023 (11/11/22)

Contact us

General questions: info@climatedatasc.org

Press inquiries: press@climatedatasc.org