If you’re looking for answers about greenhouse gas pollution and other climate indicators, you’ll get a quick step up from the Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT 2.0) produced by the World Resources Institute. (WRI is a global research organization founded in the early 80s that works closely with leaders “to turn big ideas into action in order to sustain a healthy environment—the foundation of economic opportunity and human well-being.”)
Designers constructed CAIT 2.0 to enable efficient and user-friendly exploration of sometimes cumbersome climate-related data reported in standardized form. The program allows government, business, academic, media, and personal users to view, sort, visualize, and download data sets for comparative analysis as needed.
CAIT works like this: The user selects a data collection and focuses on a subset of data within that collection to create a main table. Within it, columns can be added/removed, rows turned on/off, and data sorted. The main data table also enables several optional visualizations that appear at the bottom of the interface.
With CAIT 2.0, users can readily access and view climate-related figures and trends associated with particular regions, 180 countries, and all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The international data collection covers more than 160 years, offering carbon dioxide emissions data from 1850-2011, energy carbon dioxide emissions data from 1971-2011, and a full multi-sector greenhouse gas emission inventory from 1990-2011.
CAIT 2.0 has already analyzed a wide range of climate-related questions. Policy discussions within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and other forums have benefited from its use. (See CAIT at work in this related article.)
Standard web browsers can access CAIT 2.0, with Chrome or Safari providing optimal viewing. Most small-screen mobile devices can also use the site.
The program is free. You can access the CAIT 2.0 Google Group here.