The partnership between the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC) and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) aims to enhance the capabilities of city governments to take climate action through integrating geospatial data, solutions, and tools. GCoM, the largest global alliance for city climate leadership, brings together over 13,000 signatories committed to tackling climate change, with nearly 6,000 establishing detailed climate action plans.
At COP27 in 2022, GCoM and WGIC came together to explore the potential of leveraging geospatial data, tools, and solutions to develop comprehensive city climate action plans. Following a roundtable discussion with key stakeholders, the partners committed to strengthening the relationship throughout 2023 and 2024, with an aim to:
Identify the geospatial information that cities would need and use to plan and implement climate action;
Gain insight on ideal data formats and types that are most useful to local governments at different stages of their climate action journey;
Map existing geospatial tools, processes, and case studies that can be of use for cities along their climate journey;
Prescribe a set of geospatial data, tools, solutions, workflows, and frameworks that can assist city authorities in their priority areas on climate, especially in the Global South;
Create a space to stimulate collaboration that connects needs, solutions, and sources of funding and financing.
Accelerating City Climate Action Through Geospatial Data
In a decisive move towards forging ahead with tangible climate action in cities, WGIC and GCoM jointly released a new white paper titled “Accelerating City Climate Action through Geospatial Data.”
The paper highlights the role of geospatial technology in enhancing city-scale data management. It offers practical insights to assist local governments in understanding and mitigating emissions, identifying climate risks and vulnerabilities, and catalyzing energy transitions.
City Climate Action Through Geospatial Data - Case Studies
The case studies in the “Accelerating City Climate Action through Geospatial Data” white paper highlight examples of applied geospatial data within urban contexts across the domains of:
Digital Twins and Modeling
Geographic Information System
Renewable Energy Sources
Risks, Vulnerabilities and Resource Management
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Transportation and Mobility
All the case studies are provided by WGIC and their membership.
