Johannes Friedrich
Director of Climate Data
Johannes is the Director of Climate Data at the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organization that addresses urgent sustainability challenges related to food, forests, water, climate, energy, cities, and the ocean.
He leads WRI’s data strategy on climate, energy and systems change. He creates bold visions for innovative data products that support governments and the private sector to shift our global systems equitable ways. His work is widely cited in news outlets, countries' climate plans (24 NDCs), and used by over 250 government ministries as well as hundreds of large companies.
His area of expertise includes climate, energy, ocean, food, water, and systems change. He works with decision-makers from national to international levels, including UN, national governments, corporates, and investors, and launched data platforms in partnership with the governments of India, Indonesia, and South Africa. He manages partnerships with over 100 organizations, including public, private (Google, Amazon, IBM) and academics.
In his role, he leads three WRI data platforms:
- Systems Change Lab: A tracking system to accelerate 50 shifts to protect both people and the planet in an equitable manner.
- Climate Watch: A global compressive tracking platform for countries’ emissions, climate targets, and linkages with sustainable development.
- Power Explorer: The first open map the world's power plants to better understand their impacts on climate, water, and air quality.
He also supports WRI’s institutional strategy to turn data and visualizations into action as an advisor to Ocean Watch, Resource Watch, and the Data Lab.
Previously Johannes worked on Planetary Boundaries with the Stockholm Resilience Center as well as applying his technical knowledge to marine ecology research in Egypt and working with the French-German television station ARTE. He has a Bachelor's in computer science and an interdisciplinary Master's in science for sustainable development.
Insights
Research
Projects
Climate Watch
Launch PlatformLaunch Platform Visit ProjectClimate Watch offers powerful insights and data on national climate plans, long-term strategies and greenhouse gas emissions to help countries achieve their climate and sustainable development goals.
Part of ClimateSystems Change Lab
Launch PlatformLaunch Platform Visit ProjectMonitoring, learning from and accelerating the transformational changes required to protect both people and the planet
Part of ClimatePower Explorer
Launch PlatformLaunch Platform Visit ProjectProviding globally open data about power plants to increase transparency and help understand the environmental effects of power production
Part of Air QualityOcean Watch
Launch PlatformLaunch Platform Visit ProjectThe Ocean Watch open data platform delivers science to policy makers developing sustainable ocean economies and operationalizing integrated ocean management.
Part of OceanAgriAdapt
Launch PlatformLaunch Platform Visit ProjectAgriAdapt is a free online tool that helps agricultural funders, processors, distributors, government agencies, and other “missing middle” links of agricultural value chains better identify and understand the climate change risks they face.
Part of Climate