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Numeric Data

Source of microdata, aggregate data, and statistics

Canadian Sources

  • Climate Data Canada (Government of Canada)
    A collection of links to climate datasets, tools, guidance and related resources prepared by the Government of Canada.
  • Energy Balances and Electricity Profiles (U.N.)
    Provides energy balances for 141 countries and electricity profiles for 221 countries. The energy balances are snapshots of the annual energy flows in each country showing production, trade, transformation and consumption of energy products. They are presented in a common unit – Terajoules. The electricity profiles provide detailed information for each country on the production, trade and consumption of electricity, net installed capacity and thermal power plant input and efficiency.
  • Energy Information Administration 
    Data on various energy sources, as well as energy-related environmental data, and related information from other countries.
  • Energy statistics yearbook (U.N.)
    The Energy Statistics Yearbook is a series of annual compilations of internationally comparable statistics summarizing world energy trends. Annual data for 224 countries and areas are presented on production, trade and consumption of energy for solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels, electricity, and heat. Per capita consumption series are also provided for all energy products. Special tables of interest include: international trade tables for coal, crude petroleum and natural gas by partner countries; selected series of statistics on renewables and wastes; refinery distillation capacity; and a table on selected energy resources.
  • International Energy Agency 
    "The Energy Statistics Division (ESD) of the IEA collects, processes and publishes data and information on energy production, trade, stocks, transformation, consumption, prices and taxes as well as on greenhouse gas emissions. The geographical coverage of the IEA's statistics includes the 30 OECD Member countries and over 100 non-OECD countries world-wide."
  • Library of Climate Resources (Government of Canada)
    A collection of links to climate datasets, tools, guidance and related resources prepared by the Government of Canada.
  • Retail Gasoline Prices, Regular Grade (U.S.)
  • World crude oil price index
    Crude Oil (petroleum) price index, 2005 = 100, simple average of three spot prices; Dated Brent, West Texas Intermediate, and the Dubai Fateh. Actual monthly price data (along with prices for coal, natural gas, and non-fuel commodities)) are part of this commodity price spreadsheet from the IMF.
  • World Development Indicators 
    World Development Indicators (WDI) is the World Bank's annual compilation of data about development. WDI covers a wide range of topics, including energy production and use.

Foreign/International

  • Air Emission Sources (U.S.) 
    Provides access to state, county, and facility-level emission summaries for the six common air pollutants: carbon monoxide (CO), lead (Pb), ground-level ozone precursors nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter (PM), and sulfur dioxide (SO 2).
  • Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center 
    "The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) is the primary climate-change data and information analysis center of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) .. [it] includes the World Data Center for Atmospheric Trace Gases. CDIAC's data holdings include records of the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other radiatively active gases; the role of the terrestrial biosphere and the oceans in the biogeochemical cycles of greenhouse gases; emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel consumption and land-use changes; long-term climate trends; the effects of elevated carbon dioxide on vegetation; and the vulnerability of coastal areas to rising sea level. CDIAC provides data management support for major projects, including the AmeriFlux Network, continuous observations of ecosystem level exchanges of CO 2, water, energy and momentum at different time scales for sites in the Americas; the Ocean CO 2 Data Program of CO 2measurements taken aboard ocean research vessels; DOE-supported FACE experiments, which evaluate plant and ecosystem response to elevated CO 2concentrations, and NARSTO, which assesses ozone and fine particle processes in the troposphere over North America."
  • Climate Data Explorer
    CAIT 2.0, WRI's climate data explorer, provides free access to comprehensive, reliable, and comparable greenhouse gas emissions data sets, as well as other climate-relevant indicators, to enable analysis on a wide range of climate-related data questions. CAIT 2.0 is designed to help users from government, business, academia, the media, and civil society efficiently explore, understand, and communicate climate data.
  • Corporate Toxics Information Project
    The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, develops and disseminates information and analysis on corporate releases of pollutants and the consequences for communities. It also reports data on environmental justice populations living near each facility.
  • Data from Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) 
    Downloadable data on
    • Agriculture
    • Biodiversity & Ecosystems
    • Climate Change
    • Economic Activity
    • Environmental Assessment & Modeling
    • Environmental Health
    • Environmental Treaties
    • Indicators
    • Land Use (LU)/ Land Cover (LC) and LU/LC Change
    • Natural Hazards
    • Population
    • Poverty
    • Remote Sensing for Human Dimensions Research
  • Earth System Research Laboratory: Global Monitoring Division (NOAA) 
    "Providing the best possible information on atmospheric constituents that drive climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, and baseline air quality. "
  • Environment (World Bank)
    "Natural and man-made environmental resources - fresh water, clean air, forests, grasslands, marine resources, and agro-ecosystems - provide sustenance and a foundation for social and economic development. The need to safeguard these resources crosses all borders. Today, the World Bank is one of the key promoters and financiers of environmental upgrading in the developing world. Data here cover forests, biodiversity, emissions, and pollution. Other indicators relevant to the environment are found under data pages for Agriculture & Rural Development,Energy & MiningInfrastructure, and Urban Development."
  • Environmental Data Explorer
    The authoritative source for data sets used by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and its partners in the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report and other integrated environment assessments. Its online database holds more than 500 different variables, as national, subregional, regional and global statistics or as geospatial data sets (maps), covering themes like Freshwater, Population, Forests, Emissions, Climate, Disasters, Health and GDP. Display them on-the-fly as maps, graphs, data tables or download the data in different formats.
  • Greenhouse Gas Inventory Data 
    Links to data reported by the various countries party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
  • Historical Weather Database 
    Provides historical data on temperature and precipitation for approximately 2,000 cities worldwide.
  • International Comparison: Urban Air Quality
    Selected several urban areas in different countries with available data and compared them with major Canadian cities, providing an overview of how Canadian urban air quality ranks internationally.
  • Land surface climate station records
    This set of records is one of the global temperature records that have underpinned Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports and numerous scientific studies. The data subset consists of a network of individual land stations that has been designated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for use in climate monitoring and other data that the Met Office has gained permission from the owners to make available. The data contain monthly average temperature values for more than 3,000 land stations.
  • Little Data Book on Climate Change 2011
    "The World Bank's Little Data Book on Climate Change contains a diverse set of indicators covering climate, exposure to impacts, resilience, GHG emissions, national-level actions and carbon markets."
    • Supplemental data - contains the climate indicators featured in the Little Data Book, as well as additional climate indicators not included in the book.
  • Little Green Data Book (World Bank; 2001 - present) 
    The Little Green Data Book is a ready reference on key environmental data for over 200 countries. Key indicators are organized under the headings of agriculture, forestry, biodiversity, oceans, energy, emission and pollution, and water and sanitation.
  • NCDC: free data 
    Free datasets from the U.S. National Climate Data Center -- mostly U.S., but some international data as well, such as:
    • Global daily climatic data (1929-current)
    • Monthly & annual worldwide climatic data (1931-1960)
    • Global surface database of monthly temperature, precipitation & pressure (1697-current)
  • Ocean Buoy data, from the Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP) 
    "The primary objective of the DBCP is to maintain and coordinate all components of the network of over 1250 drifting buoys and 400 moored buoys, which provides measurements such as sea-surface temperature, surface current velocity, air temperature and wind speed and direction. This data is useful for Weather and Ocean Forecasts and research and additionally can be used to complement or validate remotely-sensed data and operational models. The DBCP also explores and evaluates new technologies and uses those which prove successful to improve operations."
  • Report on the Environment (ROE) (EPA, U.S.)
    The EPA's Report on the Environment (ROE) is an interactive resource that shows how the condition of the environment and human health in the United States is changing over time. Targeted for anyone interested in environmental trends, the ROE presents the best available indicators of national trends in five theme areas of interest to EPA: Air, Water, Land, Human Exposure and Health, and Ecological Condition. EPA selected the 85 ROE indicators to address 23 questions within these five theme areas that are critical to EPA's mission of protecting the environment and human health. EPA updates the ROE indicators on a rolling basis to provide the latest available data and adds new indicators when relevant.
  • Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program 
    "... compiles the TRI data on toxic chemical releases and waste management activities reported annually by certain industries as well as federal facilities and makes it available through data files and database tools. The goal ... is to provide communities with information about toxic chemical releases and waste management activities and to support informed decision making at all levels by industry, government, non-governmental organizations, and the public."
  • World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme (WCDMP) 
    "... a program of the World Climate Programme that facilitates the effective collection and management of climate data and the monitoring of the global climate system, including the detection and assessment of climate variability and changes."
  • World Development Indicators World Development Indicators (WDI) is the World Bank's annual compilation of data about development. WDI covers a wide range of topics including the environment (i.e., land use, urbanization, emissions).
  • World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre (WOUDC) 
    "The World Ozone Data Centre (WODC) operates a scientific archive and database providing a variety of ozone data sets to the international scientific community. There are over 400 stations represented in the archive some of which comprise over 80 years of continuous data. Data sets include total column ozone, vertical profile data from ozonesonde flights, lidar measurements and the Umkehr technique. The World Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre (WUDC) like its ozone counterpart, is a scientific archive and database of high resolution spectral, multi-band and broad-band UV data. The database began receiving data in early 1993 and by the end of 1996 had an inventory of over 100 station years and 450,000 spectra from 21 stations. The WUDC archive also must be considered preliminary and the originator(s) of data sets should always be contacted directly for detailed information. A stations listing of available UV data sites can be obtained from the Data in the Archive search form located on the Data page of this Web site. "
  • World Radiation Data Centre 
    The WRDC serves as a central depository for solar radiation data collected at over 1000 measurement sites throughout the world. The WRDC archive contains the following measurements (not all observations are made at all sites):
    • Global solar radiation
    • Diffuse solar radiation
    • Downward atmospheric radiation
    • Sunshine duration
    • Direct solar radiation (hourly and instantaneous)
    • Net total radiation
    • Net terrestrial surface radiation (upward)
    • Terrestrial surface radiation
    • Reflected solar radiation
    • Spectral radiation components (instantaneous fluxes)
  • World Resources Institute: maps & data
    WRI provides reliable and comprehensive data on a broad array of environmental, economic and social issues", such as: agriculture, biodiversity, climate change, economics, forests, oceans and coasts, water resources. Also includes: country data profiles, data tables, factoids, global trends, global statistics, maps and indicators.

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