On 15-16 January 2026, Arc and nine organisations specialising in climate policy tracking convened at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, to discuss the current landscape in climate policy tracking. We explored ways to transform policy data into actionable, interoperable insights that best serve the needs of end users—financial institutions, the private sector, civil society organisations, academic and research institutions, and government and policymakers themselves.
This collaboration marked an important first step in strengthening climate policy tracking efforts and enhancing its usability across the ecosystem. By working together, we can better respond to the demands and challenges in policy tracking, particularly those emerging with today’s rapid political and macroeconomic policy shifts. What matters is not achieving maximum policy coverage, but tracking what’s needed to maximise real-world impact.
The current policy tracking landscape
Our discussions surfaced two main barriers in current policy tracking efforts, which present opportunities for collaboration. These are:
Barriers encountered during data collection and organisation:
There is a lack of a common policy typology and limited understanding of which policies are being tracked and how. Approaches to defining and cataloguing climate policies are subjective, so policies are not tracked, tagged, and catalogued in the same way. This leads to challenges with data interoperability, comparability, and ultimately duplication of effort.
Barriers encountered with policy data analysis and how it is translated for end users:
While the same policies may be tracked, divergence occurs when policy data is translated into insights for relevant audiences.
A further challenge is how to capture the gap between policy and implementation. It’s one thing to see a policy laid out as text, but another to see how it is being implemented and its effectiveness in real-world transition outcomes.
There is an existing tension where everyone is using their own datasets to answer the question they are asking. But the result is fragmentation and duplication. How do we make this information bespoke but more effective, broad, and shared?
From fragmentation to function
Tackling these barriers starts with data interoperability. To transform policy tracking efforts from fragmented, tailored exercises into a cross-functional, effective tool for the transition, we must track, record, and share policy data using interoperable formats.
This means using common typologies, common sets of IDs for policies and corporate structures; and time, date, and tagging formats that are consistent across datasets. To achieve this, it is necessary to understand:
- What policies are being tracked, and by which organisation.
- Why certain policies are being tracked, and for what purpose and use case.
- Specific nuances around policy and implementation contexts. It is critical that climate policy typologies reflect not only local realities, but also the extraterritorial effect of a policy from one jurisdiction to another.
By making policy data more interoperable, we can more easily collaborate to compare and consolidate data, which will facilitate new and bespoke use cases.
Use cases for policy data
The potential scope of work on data interoperability is vast. As a group, we therefore agreed to prioritise policy use cases where the data could yield the greatest impacts.
To identify use cases for policy tracking, we must start by looking at who is impacted by a policy and how we can measure that impact. A company that has a long and complex supply chain operating across multiple jurisdictions requires us to understand how policy spillovers extend across countries, regions, and sectors.
One important use case is a workstream that Arc has been exploring: strengthening the interoperability between policy and corporate transition data.
We would be keen to see corporate and policy data feeding back and forth. Could we eventually reach a level where this data can tell us how a policy affects corporate transitions across a company’s emissions, capital expenditure, and profitability?
This type of analysis would have clear use cases for corporates, policymakers, and financial institutions. It would allow governments to adjust policies to catalyse private sector financial flows towards the transition and generate a feedback loop between policies and private sector transition action.
For policy tracking to be impactful, “data needs to be socialised,” says Dr. Wright. “Here the human-to-human aspect of building data use cases is key. Just because data is out there, does not mean it will get used.”
As a result, it will be a priority for us to communicate what information each organisation holds, and how users can access and make use of them.
As a starting point, at our second meeting in March, a “tracker of trackers” was shared—a co-created document listing existing climate policy trackers, which anyone is welcome to access here.
Finally, there is the prevailing recognition that we cannot look at policy through a climate lens alone. The climate crisis is a systemic issue that deeply intersects with other policy areas including geopolitics, nature, economics, trade, health, resilience, and human development. Our work will operate within this context when exploring how to transform policy data into effective real economy signals for users.
Next steps
Outcomes so far highlight promising areas of collaboration, from immediate opportunities to longer term projects. These include building a shared community network, refining and harmonising the typologies, exploring joint research projects, and consolidating a global policy document library.
Collectively we are committed to maintaining this momentum. Our immediate next steps will focus on:
- Organising a joint event at London Climate Action Week in June 2026 to continue identifying opportunities for collaboration and further dive into how best to respond to specific use cases.
- Developing a policy and corporate transition scorecard for Australia and Türkiye ahead of COP31 to demonstrate the comparability and coverage of different trackers.
We look forward to further contributing to this important collaboration and leveraging our expertise in data and corporate transitions to add value to the climate policy ecosystem.
About Oxford Climate Policy Hub
The Oxford Climate Policy Hub is a research initiative based at the University of Oxford that aims to build the evidence base and capacity to advance effective, rigorous, and equitable net zero regulation and policy.
About Arc
Arc is a global non-profit organisation. We work with aligned partners to develop credible pathways for a fair and resilient transition that meets climate goals. By building trust in shared information and insight, Arc empowers decision makers to invest confidently in the future.
Interested in collaborating with us and being a part of these efforts?
Get in touch:
Contact Arc at info@climatearc.org
Contact Oxford Climate Policy Hub at netzerohub@bsg.ox.ac.uk
