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Climate Finance Maps explores complex climate change trends from the perspectives of international finance and global climate policy. The goal is to combine data from several sources to create a series of interactive maps, making these data accessible to the public. We use financial data produced by the Overseas Development Institute (London) to give insight into the quantity and direction of economic forces underlying climate policy.

We concentrate on two aspects of climate policy that are interconnected but usually addressed in isolation: climate funds and energy subsidies. Climate funds are international climate finance initiatives designed to help developing countries address the challenges of climate change. Energy subsidies are direct or indirect subsidies that national governments allocate to support fuel consumption, and fossil fuels in particular, although they are one of the main sources of carbon dioxide (thus the most important cause of climate change). While climate funds aim to foster climate-compatible development, subsidies to fossil fuels dwarf any efforts in that direction. We aim at uncovering and visualize these contradictions.

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Climate Finance Maps analiza complejas tendencias en el cambio climático, desde el punto de vista de la economía y política internacional. Nuestro objetivo es combinar datos de diversas fuentes para crear una serie de mapas interactivos, haciendo estos datos accesibles al público. Usamos los datos financieros recopilados por Overseas Development Institute (Londres) para dar a conocer las fuerzas económicas que subyacen a la política climática.

Nos centramos en dos aspectos que están íntimamente relacionados, pero muchas veces abordados aisladamente: fondos climáticos y subvenciones energéticas. Los fondos climáticos son iniciativas económicas medioambientales, de carácter internacional, destinadas a apoyar a países en vías de desarrollo en su lucha contra el cambio climático. Las subvenciones energéticas son asignadas por los gobiernos para mantener el consumo de combustible, de combustibles fósiles en particular, a pesar de que constituyen una de las principales fuentes de dióxido de carbono (y por ende una de las causas más importantes del cambio climático). Mientras que los fondos climáticos pretenden promover un desarrollo sostenible, dichos subsidios eclipsan cualquier esfuerzo en esa dirección. Aspiramos a descubrir y visualizar estas contradicciones. 

Climate Finance Maps is looking for collaborators!

The following profiles are highly welcomed:   

• data analysist(s)/ statistician(s): we will need help with the analysis of our data. In particular we would need help in finding the best ways to interpret large data structures and in applying the best statistical procedures to compare different datasets.  
• programmer(s): we would like the help of a programmer throughout the different phases of the workshop, for tasks that go from scraping to visualizing stories. In particular it would be useful if our team is joined by someone with knowledge in developing interactive visualizatios.  
• environment/climate change expert: our team will benefit from a collaborator that has good domain knowledge of climate change, of the different policies that are carried out to address the issue, of the different funding schemes and of other related topics.