The future of climate action depends on access to high-quality data. Today, we're announcing a new initiative to ensure the foundational datasets that undergird the sustainability ecosystem remain high quality, up-to-date, and accessible to everyone.
Watershed has joined forces with the Stanford Sustainable Solutions Lab to launch Cornerstone, an initiative to preserve and expand access to foundational sustainability data following the announcement that the EPA will no longer support the development of the US Environmentally-Extended Input-Output (USEEIO) Models.
Effective immediately, Cornerstone will be the hub for open access to USEEIO and Watershed’s Open CEDA, the world’s two most widely used models for scope 3 carbon accounting, and critical inputs to government sustainability efforts and academic research. Together, USEEIO and CEDA are used to calculate roughly 65% of scope 3 corporate carbon measurements globally.
In the coming months, USEEIO and CEDA will merge into a single global open multi-regional input output model managed by Cornerstone. This new model will drive significant improvements in scope 3 measurements and expand beyond greenhouse gas pollution to assess regional air and water quality, water use, and waste generation.
The collaboration brings together leading experts in emissions measurement:
- Dr. Wesley Ingwersen, former EPA lead and architect of the USEEIO model, will serve as Technical Director;
- Dr. Sangwon Suh, Head of Science at Watershed and developer of CEDA, and Dr. Steve Davis, Professor at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, serve as Technical Advisors.
Cornerstone will also support research and innovation in environmental modeling, foster a community of researchers and practitioners, and offer ongoing education in the use of EEIO data.
This is how we accelerate the climate economy—by ensuring the tools companies need to measure, report, and act on their emissions remain accessible to all.
Learn more about the initiative at www.cornerstonedata.org.
