Carbon accounting platform Watershed has released a free version of its Comprehensive Environmental Data Archive (CEDA), aiming to remove key barriers to high-quality emissions reporting. The new Open CEDA is available at openceda.org and covers emissions data across 148 countries, 400 industries, and economies representing 95% of global GDP.
The initiative seeks to address critical gaps in global emissions data, particularly for organisations and institutions that previously lacked access to comprehensive datasets. According to Watershed, around 75% of companies reporting to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) in 2023 relied on emissions data skewed towards a single country—an issue that distorts sustainability reporting for global supply chains where emissions can vary by up to 70% between regions in some industries.
“Simply put, better data leads to better decisions,” said Watershed co-founder Christian Anderson. “By making CEDA publicly accessible, we’re enabling organisations of all sizes to build a more accurate emissions profile, ultimately accelerating progress toward a climate-informed economy.”
Open CEDA is already being used by partners across sectors, including Amazon’s Sustainability Data Initiative (ASDI), which integrates the dataset into its broader Sustainability Exchange platform. Michelle Jolly, director of Sustainability Solutions at Amazon, said the move would help “democratise access to emissions data that organisations of all sizes need to make informed sustainability decisions.”
The archive also supports financial institutions. Arjun Ganguly of the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) welcomed the release, noting that open access to emissions factor databases is “essential for financial institutions to begin accounting for emissions from their financial activities.”
Nonprofits and research organisations have also begun leveraging Open CEDA. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has used the database in studies examining the global distribution of greenhouse gas emissions across supply chains. “The inclusion of land sector emissions and geographic resolution is critical,” said Martha Stevenson, senior director of strategy and research for forests at WWF-US.
Watershed will continue offering a paid version of CEDA with enhanced data breakdowns and customer support, while the open version is expected to significantly expand the reach and impact of emissions measurement globally.
