Same data, same language: why climate reporting needs XBRL
This week XBRL US published a compelling white paper that makes a strong case for digitising climate-related data using a common semantic data model. Despite the sheer volume of climate data already collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state environmental regulators, accessibility and usability remain hindered by disjointed systems, inconsistent file formats, and differing data structures. This fragmentation limits how data can be analysed, shared, or even understood, at a time when clarity is more crucial than ever.
The paper details the multitude of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions datasets already gathered at facility, state, and corporate levels. While this data is often public, it is cumbersome to process, requiring significant manual effort and domain expertise. By adopting a shared taxonomy, such as those published by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), regulators could maintain autonomy over data collection while ensuring all submissions are interoperable, machine-readable, and semantically aligned.
Such standardisation would not only reduce the reporting burden for entities but would also dramatically improve the quality, comparability, and efficiency of climate data use. XBRL-based frameworks can validate data with precision, automate processing, and unlock richer insights across jurisdictions. As new state-level emissions rules come into effect in places like New York and California, aligning around a shared digital language could yield enormous benefits.
From air quality and emissions to cap-and-trade auctions, climate-related data is already being gathered, now it’s time to ensure it speaks the same language.
Read the full white paper here.
