Building an urgent national database of Australian climate policy

University of Melbourne researchers are asking Australians to help them build a database of climate policy, as part of a new data science project to understand and improve Australia’s climate response.

The critical need for successful joint action toward 2050 net zero carbon emissions, as highlighted by the IPCC, requires analysis, alignment, and integration of the currently fragmented action in the climate policy space.

Governments of all levels, as well as private businesses and non-government organisations across Australia are developing and adapting their own separate climate policies. But University of Melbourne climate policy researcher Dr Kathryn Davidson said there is a danger that this fragmented activity leads to planning that is incoherent with little scope for integration to make individual actions more effective.

“What is needed is a system of data collection and analysis so that policy makers know what is going on and can be in a position to identify ways to harmonise action,” she said.

Dr Davidson is leading a new project aiming to gain a better understanding of the climate policy landscape in Australia, through a collaboration between the Melbourne Centre for Data Science and Melbourne Climate Futures.

The team is calling upon Australian businesses, organisations, and governments of all sizes to submit a copy of their existing climate plans and any reports on those policies from 2011 – 2022.

“With the window to make meaningful carbon reductions by 2030 rapidly closing, it is imperative to build a comprehensive database on climate actions and policies, and we need your help,” said Dr Davidson.

“Please send us your plans and reports.”

The database will be analysed using a form of artificial intelligence called Natural Language Processing. The data will and used in a longitudinal study to understand trends since 2011, and to identify new policy opportunities.

The researchers will map the multitude of climate policies and their performance in Australia, to identify the areas of overlap and conflict in current governance across the diverse range of groups, assess performance and effectiveness, as well as interactions between actors, to better illuminate how climate actions are evolving, converging, or diverging.

Annual collections of policies and reports will then be undertaken going forward.

“We are really excited to be investigating the opportunities that big data can provide to help us to better understand the climate policy landscape in Australia,” said Dr Davidson.

“The success of these methods, however, hinges on the availability of high-quality and comprehensive data sets of climate policies.”

To submit climate plans as part of Melbourne Centre for Data Science and Melbourne Climate Futures’ research, please visit the project website.

Read more about the project on Pursuit.