Enviormental Insights Explorer

Access environmental insights to address the climate challenge in your region

Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE) is a freely available data and insights tool that empowers cities and regions to measure, plan, and reduce their carbon emissions and build a more sustainable future for their communities.

The challenge
How the EIE helps cities
Key benefits
Our impact
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The challenge

Cities are at the forefront of the climate challenge, accounting for over 70% of the world's carbon emissions. To take effective climate action, city leaders and planners first need to understand their emissions sources by creating a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory. However, this is a complex and resource-intensive process, often hindered by the lack of access to accurate, city-wide data. Without this foundational data, cities struggle to identify the most impactful areas for investment, set meaningful reduction targets, and measure their progress over time.

How Environmental Insights Explorer helps cities

Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE) addresses this critical data gap by providing cities with robust, globally consistent environmental insights derived from Google's unique mapping data and advanced machine learning capabilities. The platform offers a suite of tools that help cities establish an emissions baseline and identify opportunities for climate action across key sectors

Key benefits

Transportation emissions

EIE estimates the carbon emissions from all trips within a city's boundaries based on aggregated and anonymized location data to analyze transportation footprint trends and modal shifts.

Building emissions

The tool provides estimates for emissions from heating, cooling, and powering residential and non-residential buildings, leveraging Google Maps data to model energy consumption and associated emissions.

Rooftop solar potential

EIE analyzes roof geometry and local weather patterns to estimate the technical solar potential of every building in a city, helping to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy.

Tree Canopy

Using aerial imagery and AI, EIE estimates tree canopy coverage across a city, enabling planners to identify areas that would benefit most from tree planting initiatives to reduce urban heat and improve air quality.

Transportation emissions

EIE estimates the carbon emissions from all trips within a city's boundaries based on aggregated and anonymized location data to analyze transportation footprint trends and modal shifts.

Building emissions

Rooftop solar potential

EIE analyzes roof geometry and local weather patterns to estimate the technical solar potential of every building in a city, helping to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy.

Tree Canopy

Impact on users and cities

EIE is designed for the key decision-makers and practitioners leading climate action in cities, including urban planners, sustainability officers, and local government officials. The platform supports the entire climate action journey: from measuring a baseline emissions inventory and identifying reduction opportunities, and planning and implementing policies,. By providing consistent, actionable data at no cost, EIE empowers cities of all sizes to make data-driven decisions, build support for climate initiatives, and create more resilient and sustainable communities for their citizens.

Environmental Insights Explorer's Tree Canopy data is so exciting as it offers accuracy and ease of availability. EIE Tree Canopy data will now be part of our database to support the city's sustainability policies, environmental management and planning.

Maria Telhado & Celia Jeremias
Department of Environment, Energy & Climate Change, Municipality of Lisbon

Learn more about Enviormental Insights Explorer

See the product in action and explore how it works in the real world

Visit Environmental Insights Explorer website