Climate Tagger to aid organizations in using knowledge to combat climate change
Vienna - Reeep has joined forces with the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), the operational arm of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Technology Mechanism, to launch Climate Tagger. This new tool, which automatically scans, labels, sorts and catalogues data and document collections, will help knowledge-driven organizations in the climate and development arenas streamline their information resources, and connect them to the wider climate knowledge community.
“Climate Tagger is the result of a shared commitment to breaking down the ‘information silos’ that exist in the climate development community, and to providing concrete solutions that can be implemented right now, anywhere,” said REEEP Director General Martin Hiller. “Together with CTCN we’ve gone a long way toward our goals, and have laid the foundations for a system that can be continuously improved and expanded to bring new sectors, systems and organizations into the climate knowledge community.”
Climate Tagger is based on the tried and true reegle Tagging API, first introduced by REEEP in 2011 to help its network better catalogue and connect data, and backed by the expansive Climate Compatible Development Thesaurus, developed by experts in fields ranging from climate mitigation and adaptation to economy and green growth, and even specific areas such as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).
“The release of Climate Tagger marks a remarkable step for us in our role as a principal facilitator and promoter of development and transfer of climate technologies,” said Jukka Uosukainen, Director of the CTCN. “Not only will Climate Tagger directly improve the effectiveness of our own knowledge resources, but it will also help our global network to catalogue and connect their data sets together. In the end, it means better collaboration and better outcomes for technology transfer.”
The development process drew on the combined expertise and ingenuity of dozens of subject matter experts from the field, as well as the technical knowledge of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which assisted in testing and implementation of the tool. “At the very foundation of sharing knowledge is the need for a common language to categorize information. Climate Tagger is a bridge spanning gaps in language and technology to enable more efficient and accurate sharing of information”, said Jon Weers, who leads NREL’s Open Energy Information platform.
REEEP Director General Martin Hiller and CTCN Director Jukka Uosukainen will be talking about Climate Tagger at the COP20 side event hosted by the Climate Knowledge Brokers Group in Lima, Peru, on Monday, December 1st at 4:45pm.