THE ROLE LOCATION DATA CAN PLAY IN ACHIEVING CARBON EMISSIONS REDUCTION AND SUPPORTING SYSTEM WIDE STRUCTURAL CHANGE

The Geospatial Commission (GC) is an expert committee within the UK government that sets the UK’s geospatial strategy and promotes the best use of geospatial data. Our aim is to unlock the significant economic, social and environmental opportunities offered by location data and to boost the UK’s global geospatial expertise. In our Annual Plan 22/23, we set out the important role of location data to support the UK and global nations in our collective mission to drive down carbon emissions. Innovations in the use of location data will support system wide structural change, and help deliver the efficiencies and environmental outcomes our world depends on. Through our programmes, we are demonstrating how location data can support this system-wide change. Our National Land Data Programme will demonstrate how enhanced spatial modelling capability can inform land use scenario planning - which includes identifying how land can be better optimised to meet our climate change targets. Our Transport Programme has helped us identify key opportunities for location data to decarbonise our transport ecosystem, such as through improved planning of Electric Vehicle Chargepoint infrastructure - something the Geospatial Commission has also delivered further research to understand. This paper will highlight the role location data can play in achieving net zero carbon emissions, what the Geospatial Commission has learnt through our programmes, and what the next steps look like.