Accountability and data-driven urban climate governance

The use of increasingly large and diverse datasets to guide urban climate action has implications for how, and by whom, local governments are held accountable. This Review focuses on emerging dynamics of accountability in data-driven urban climate change governance. Current understandings of the implications for accountability are examined based on three common rationales for prioritizing data-driven decision-making: standardization, transparency and capacity building. We conclude that the trend toward data-driven urban climate governance can incentivize city governments to prioritize narrowed metrics and external interests, inhibiting the broader transformations required to realize climate change goals. We offer priorities for research at the intersection of data-driven climate governance and the accountability of city governments. The shift to data-driven urban climate governance alters accountability. This Review examines critically the drivers of the shift-standardization, transparency and capacity building-and how best to achieve equitable climate mitigation outcomes within this context.