President Obama was able to take a vital step forward in addressing climate change today with The Climate Data Initiative. Effort falls under the President’s Climate Action Plan and is a multi-stakeholder collaboration for open source climate data. Data from NOAA, NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of Defense, and other Federal agencies will be featured for free on climate.data.gov. Initiative is not only about sharing data, but creating a platform for innovation. Non-federal partners include Esri, the company that produces the ArcGIS, Intel, and Google. The World Bank even takes the initiative global. Many localized governments, academic and NGO groups are on board as well.
This is an inspiring call to action that facilitates the effective use of data for climate risk mitigation and adaptation plans and policies. Data can better inform businesses, policymakers, and leverage lessons learned for cities to become more resilient especially in the face of extreme weather events and sea-level rise. Government expects data to be ‘used by entrepreneurs, researchers, tech innovators, and others to create countless new applications, tools, services, and businesses.’
Site: http://www.data.gov/
More information on partners and their specific roles check out this fact sheet
The Sustainability Co-Op 
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