CDP has partnered with Google.org to develop an artificial intelligence platform designed to help cities, states and regional governments translate climate data into investment-ready projects and policy decisions. The initiative aims to strengthen the ability of subnational governments to assess climate risks and mobilize financing for resilience and decarbonization initiatives.

The project will be delivered through a six-month Google.org Fellowship, which assigns teams of Google engineers, AI specialists and designers to support non-profit initiatives. The team will collaborate with CDP to build an open-source platform that combines Google’s artificial intelligence capabilities and cloud infrastructure with CDP’s environmental disclosure dataset.

Addressing a Growing Climate Finance Gap

CDP’s data indicates that climate financing requirements at the city and regional level have risen sharply. According to the organization, funding needs for climate mitigation and resilience projects among subnational governments have reached approximately $105 billion.

Local governments often face the most immediate impacts of climate change, including flooding, extreme heat, water scarcity and biodiversity loss. However, many lack integrated analytical tools that can transform environmental data into actionable investment strategies and financing proposals.

The new platform is intended to bridge this gap by converting large datasets into insights that help decision-makers identify climate vulnerabilities, evaluate mitigation options and prioritize infrastructure investments.

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Transforming Climate Data into Decision Support

Rather than relying on static reports, the planned system will generate tailored analytical insights based on CDP’s environmental disclosure data collected from cities, states and regions worldwide. The platform will help public authorities understand climate risks, plan adaptation strategies and identify projects that could attract investment.

The system is also expected to support communication between local governments and potential funding sources such as investors, development banks and multilateral institutions. By presenting data in a clearer and more structured format, the platform aims to improve access to climate finance for projects focused on resilience and emissions reduction.

CDP currently collects environmental data from more than 1,000 cities, states and regional governments, providing one of the largest datasets on subnational climate action and environmental risks.

Technology Collaboration Through Google.org Fellowship

The Google.org Fellowship program provides technical expertise from Google employees on a pro bono basis to support non-profit initiatives addressing global challenges. For the CDP collaboration, the fellowship team will help design the platform’s architecture, develop machine learning models and build the user interface.

Google’s cloud computing and artificial intelligence tools will be integrated to analyze environmental datasets and deliver insights tailored to the needs of policymakers and city administrators.

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Supporting Local Climate Action

Cities account for more than 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and are responsible for many of the infrastructure investments required for the energy transition and climate resilience. Despite this central role, local governments often face challenges in accessing financing due to fragmented data systems and limited analytical capacity.

The CDP and Google.org partnership aims to improve the link between climate data and investment planning, enabling cities and regional authorities to develop stronger pipelines of bankable climate projects.

By combining large-scale environmental disclosure data with advanced analytics, the initiative seeks to accelerate decision-making and help close the growing climate finance gap facing local governments worldwide.

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