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If You Want Better Climate Action in Your City, Start with the Data
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
By Hannah Muhajarine, Policy and Data Projects Manager, The Climate Reality Project Canada
Do you know whether your municipality is on track to meet its emissions reduction targets? What about who is being most impacted in your community by extreme heat? Maybe you want to convince your government to build more bike lanes instead of investing in road expansion—how would you go about building your argument using evidence?The answer to all of the questions above involves data.
Municipalities use data to inform their planning and decision-making, and to monitor progress. This goes hand-in-hand with the broad goals of advocacy and community organizing: pushing governments to make decisions that are climate-friendly and equitable, and holding governments accountable to their climate commitments.
While it’s important as climate organizers not to think we can rely solely on “presenting data” to achieve wins—we also need to build organised community pressure to back up our demands—data remains an essential tool in the toolbox. Strong community advocacy and public participation, coupled with strong systems for transparency and accountability based on open data, are what make a healthy democracy. In an age of misinformation and threats to our democratic systems, it is essential to understand data not only as technical, but also political: a critical component for democracy, climate accountability, and healthy, free communities.
How do municipalities use data for climate action?
Data is knowledge, and is indispensable for good governance. To recap, the main uses for data when it comes to local climate action are to inform planning and measure progress. Some common examples of data used in planning include:
GHG emissions inventories (used to identify the various sources of emissions and set a baseline against which to measure progress)
Contextual data such as current and projected population growth, financial costs, energy consumption, and more
Modelling which uses data to project a community’s emissions curve based on actions taken under different scenarios (e.g. “net-zero” versus “business-as-usual”)
Every climate plan should identify what types of data the municipality will be collecting to assess implementation progress—usually associated with an indicator. Progress can be measured through process indicators (implemented activities, such as the adoption of an active transportation plan), output indicators (the immediate results of activities, such as kilometres of bike lanes), and outcome indicators (the results, such as an increase in mode share). Your municipality’s climate plan might measure progress using:
GHG emissions (including by sector)
For transportation: Mode share, transit ridership, percentage of transit fleet that is electric, number of public EV charging stations, vehicle kilometres travelled, etc.
For buildings: Number of buildings that have been retrofitted, number of buildings with heat pumps, etc.
For waste: Waste diversion rates, waste generation, etc.
For green space: Percentage of tree canopy cover, green space area per capita, proximity to green space, etc.
For energy: Energy consumption, percentage of energy generated from renewable sources, megawatts of rooftop solar installed, etc.
Qualitative indicators are used to measure things that are harder to measure numerically. They use constructive scales (high, medium, low, 1 through 10, etc.) For example, you might see in your city’s climate plan actions measured in terms of “not yet begun,” “in development,” “adopted,” “implemented.”
Each of these indicators also needs practices in place for functionally collecting the data, as well as communicating it back to residents. A study by the Municipal Net-Zero Action Research Partnership (N-ZAP) at the University of Waterloo found that while many municipalities have developed climate plans, not as many follow through with robust evaluation and monitoring—something they recommend should be considered integral to implementation.
What does good data management look like?
Up-to-date: A general rule of thumb is that data is outdated after 3+ years, though this may vary depending on the dataset in question.
Granularity: It is possible to find data broken down by neighbourhood, sector, etc., rather than only highly aggregated.
Accessible: “Open data” refers to organized datasets that are available for download and use by anyone, and making data open is an important transparency tool. Many municipalities have open data portals where datasets related to government operations, finances, and services can be accessed. Ideally, these datasets include contextual information about the data, such as methodology and date.
Some municipalities have built public dashboards (check out Calgary’s Climate and Environment Dashboard here) that present data measuring climate plan progress in a clear and easily accessible way.
How can community organizers and climate-concerned residents use data for climate action?
There are many ways community organizers and climate-concerned residents can use data—from their municipality’s open data portal or beyond—to further their local climate action goals!
Some examples include: developing cross-city benchmarking; building new maps or tools from open datasets to provide oversight and scrutiny; or collecting primary data (i.e. citizen science) using methods such as cyclist counts or air quality monitors. These can also go hand-in-hand with advocating to the city for better data management and transparency practices. Here are just a few case studies of how community organizations and groups are using data to further climate action:
Type of initiative: Cross-city benchmarking
Led by: The Climate Reality Project Canada, with 50+ volunteers
Municipality: 50+ across Canada
Type of data: Climate outcomes, climate policies
Data sources: Municipal policy documents, municipal climate dashboards, Statistics Canada, open databases
For several years, Climate Reality Canada has facilitated the National Climate League (NCL), a participatory data-collection project organizing volunteers to collect data on a cross-cutting set of climate indicators comparing municipal climate progress across the country. Over multiple versions of the initiative, we covered both processes (qualitative indicators comparing municipal adoption of key climate policies, targets, programs, and practices using a simple yes/no scale) and outcomes (quantitative indicators). Data was collected from municipal plans and progress reports, city climate dashboards (where available), Statistics Canada, and other open databases.
The NCL aimed to add value and transparency by putting municipal climate data in context—if your municipality has an average of 25% sustainable mode share, the NCL can show you whether that puts it as largely better or worse than other cities of its size. Since there isn’t yet a consistent way across Canada to compare how cities are progressing on climate action, the NCL brought together volunteers to build a tool that does just that.
Type of initiative: Open data tool (mapping, scoring)
Led by: Calgary Climate Hub and Saadiq Mohiuddin
Municipality: Calgary
Type of data: Tree canopy coverage, urban heat, census demographic data
Data sources: Calgary Open Data, Statistics Canada
In an example of working with localized open datasets, the Calgary Climate Hub and Saadiq Mohiuddin worked together to build the Calgary Tree Equity Tool. Combining different open datasets, the Tree Equity Tool features a map of Calgary overlaid with tree canopy data, census demographics, and urban heat patterns. It uses the Tree Equity score (developed by American Forests), which is an indicator calculated by comparing tree canopy density and canopy targets to the percentage of equity-seeking populations in a neighbourhood.
The tool compares the city’s targets against actually existing tree canopy data, as well as objectively identifying an equity issue: the fact that neighbourhoods with lower-income and equity-seeking populations tend to have lower tree canopy cover, exposing them to impacts from extreme heat. The Calgary Tree Equity can be used to advocate for better and more equitable tree planting policies and practices.
Type of initiative: Open data tool (database, scoring)
Led by: ClimateFast
Municipality: Toronto
Type of data: Council voting records
Data sources: Toronto Open Data
Another example of using open datasets for climate accountability and democratic transparency is the Toronto Climate Voting Records created by ClimateFast, a local grassroots climate advocacy group. The Toronto Climate Voting Records uses Toronto’s open dataset of councillor voting records to maintain an up to date database showing how each councillor voted on climate-related items going before council.
Volunteers filter the items to include only the items related to the implementation of the city’s climate plan (as well as other climate and equity-related issues) and then record whether councillors voted for, against, or abstained. This creates a clear, transparent record that helps residents understand how the climate plan is being implemented, and the role of council (including their own elected representative) in advancing or hindering climate action.
Looking for data and data tools?
Whether you’re looking to use data to strengthen a delegation to city council, build a simple data visual to share on social media, experiment with building a different type of tool or map, or just looking for inspiration, here are some sites to check out:Climate TRACE: This tool, co-founded by former US Vice-President Al Gore, shows global emissions and air quality data, gathered from open data sources, as well as satellite imagery. Climate TRACE provides a useful independent source of emissions data, independent from those reported by governments and corporations.
Climate Atlas of Canada: Find historical and projected climate data for municipalities across Canada.
Municipal Energy and Emissions Database: Find comparable energy and emissions data for municipalities across the country (users must create a free profile).
Climate Dashboard (CBC): Browse an easy-to-use dashboard showing how the current weather in your city compares to historical averages.
ClimateData: This platform offers a wide range of resources related to historical climate data, climate projections, and analysis tools. It includes datasets on temperature, precipitation, and other climatic variables, as well as interactive maps, graphs, and educational materials to support the assessment of climate change impacts and the development of mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Municipal Net-Zero Action Research Partnership: Explore a national database tracking municipal climate action targets, emissions inventories, mitigation strategies, governance practices, and more, based on public survey responses from 178 municipalities. Plus, check out the accompanying report!
Datawrapper: Datawrapper is a simple tool you can use to create simple charts, maps, and tables from any dataset.
Data is only as powerful as how it is used. For community organizers and advocates, it offers a way to understand problems, back up arguments, and hold decision-makers accountable, but it’s just one part of the broader work of building momentum for change. You don’t need to be a data or policy expert to use it effectively!
The Climate Reality Project Canada supports organizers and residents in turning information into action. We help you explore where your municipality stands, craft stronger evidence-based asks, and explore open data tools. Because when we work together to demystify data, connect it to lived experience, and empower communities to use evidence as leverage in their advocacy—all the while pairing it with organizing and public pressure—data becomes a fuel for collective climate leadership that drives change where it matters most.
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