Abbey Abramson

  Turning public data into public power Practical guide: turning public data into public power This section serves as a guide for citizens, journalists, and civil society organizations to independently verify, analyze, and advocate for greater transparency in climate and environmental projects. Treat each step as part of an iterative learning loop—ask, test, refine, and repeat. By viewing these practical actions as a continuous process—from setting baselines to publishing replication files—you can transform open data into meaningful oversight and accountability, echoing the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) principles discussed earlier. Step 1 — Pin down the baseline (don’t move the goalposts). Before accepting “impact,” ask: Impact against what? For floods : historic water-level or depth maps per neighborhood; baseline water-logging days. For nature-based projects: initial canopy cover and species-site plan per plot; survival targets at 12 & 36 months. Document data ...

  Oversight blind spots for corruption Oversight blind spots that let corruption through Fragmented, non-standard portals Where each agency posts to its own website (often with scanned PDFs), you cannot trace the life of a contract from plan to payment. The cure is publishing end-to-end, machine-readable data using standards like OCDS and OC4IDS , with geotagged milestones and change orders. Imagine visualizing the procurement process as Plan ➔ Tender ➔ Contract ➔ Payment, each step clearly documented and accessible. ( Open Contracting Partnership ; CoST ) ( Comptroller and Auditor General of India ). Weak blacklists and poor ownership data If sanctions aren’t published—and if companies can reincarnate with new shells—blacklists are merely a formality. Beneficial-ownership transparency and routine checks against ownership networks help close the revolving door ( Open Ownership , 2021; OGP , 2023; IMF , 2025). (openownership.org) Limited civic access and “ PDF traps ” When the onl...