ESF conference 'Closing data gaps on climate change'

On 16 and 17 January 2025, the high-level 'Closing data gaps on climate change' conference of the European Statistical Forum (ESF) was held in Brussels. At the event, the European Statistical System and the European System of Central Banks discussed ways to enrich their statistics related to climate change and its impact on the economy and society. The participants included the Directors-General of Eurostat and national statistical institutes, Directors of Statistics of the European Central Bank and national central banks, and international experts on climate change. The conference was addressed by Mr Valdis Dombrovskis, the Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, and Ms Fritzi Köhler-Geib, a Board Member of Deutsche Bundesbank. Sir Professor Jim Skea, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, delivered the keynote speech.

National statistical institutes and national central banks are increasingly engaged in producing official European statistics on climate change. This involves serving users' information needs about the impact of climate change on competitiveness and fairness aspects, including physical and transition risks, as well as financial and demographic risks.

The conference underscored the growing importance of coordinating future efforts to close climate data gaps and to minimise the reporting burden on businesses. The expert sessions covered statistics on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints, energy accounts, climate expenditures (including investments) and finance, and climate-related risks.

As key takeaways, the conference underscored the need for more data on greenhouse gas emissions and energy use and related financial instruments, on climate change investments and their financing, and for more georeferenced statistical information. Statistical authorities should engage in providing data on climate adaptation to prevent damage by extreme weather events, such as the recent wildfires in California or floods in parts of Europe. Furthermore, they should re-use data collected under corporate sustainability reporting to reduce the reporting burden on businesses.

In the coming months, Eurostat and the Directorate-General Statistics of the European Central Bank will develop a set of joint priorities for their work on closing the most pressing data gaps related to climate change.