The data terms and open-climate.ai's own licence
Numbers checked against the live data on
Every row you take from open-climate.ai carries two sets of rights: the publisher's, on the values and the text they wrote, and open-climate.ai's, on the layer that makes those values comparable. This page states the second set, which the download dialog, the credit line on every library page and the References sheet inside every edition workbook all point at. The publisher's own terms, tier by tier, are on Licences and redistribution.
Note. This page is not legal advice. Where the publisher's terms and anything here disagree, the publisher's terms prevail, and nothing open-climate.ai asks of you narrows what the publisher's licence already grants you.
What you accepted at the download#
The tick in the download dialog, "I am aware I need to credit the publisher and open-climate.ai", is a reminder of the credit, not a third licence. What it points at is the two sets of rights below: the publisher's licence on the values, and open-climate.ai's on the standardised layer. The file itself is free, you accept the terms once, and you confirm the credit at each download: see Download a file.
Two layers, two licences#
| What it covers | Under whose licence |
|---|---|
| The publisher's values, labels and notes, as published | The publisher's own licence, set per library release |
| What open-climate.ai adds: the normalised and added columns, the grouping into factors and parts, and the file itself | CC BY 4.0, or CC BY-SA 4.0 over a copyleft library |
open-climate.ai's layer is licensed CC BY 4.0. Over a copyleft library that layer is an adaptation and has to stay under the same licence, so there it is CC BY-SA 4.0. Which one applies follows the library's tier, not the format you took. What open-climate.ai standardised is the list of what that layer is.
What the credit line says#
The credit line on a library page and in the download dialog names the publisher first, then open-climate.ai with the library page's address. For ADEME Base Carbone it reads "Data: Source ADEME, Base Carbone v23.6. Normalised by open-climate.ai, https://open-climate.ai/factors/libraries/ademe (CC BY 4.0)".
The licence in the final parenthesis is open-climate.ai's, on the layer. It is not the publisher's, which is named by license_code on the row and in full on the library page. EXIOBASE shows both halves at once: "Data: EXIOBASE 3 (Stadler et al.), CC BY-SA 4.0. Normalised by open-climate.ai, https://open-climate.ai/factors/libraries/exiobase (CC BY-SA 4.0)", where the first CC BY-SA 4.0 is the publisher's licence on the values and the last one is open-climate.ai's on the layer, inherited because the library is copyleft.
Copy the line from the library page rather than from this page: it carries the edition you are actually citing. Cite a factor shows where it goes in a report.
The two conditions on our half#
CC BY asks for attribution, and open-climate.ai asks for it in two specific ways:
- On a website the link must work. The address in the credit line has to be a live hyperlink, not printed text, wherever printing one is practicable.
- Neither credit may imply endorsement. Crediting the publisher and open-climate.ai is required; suggesting that either endorses you, your product or your figures is not allowed.
Credit the publisher first, as their terms require, then open-climate.ai with the link in the credit line. The conditions the publisher's own licence adds, such as saying what you changed or sharing alike, are listed on what the licence adds.
What rides inside a downloaded file#
Every edition workbook carries a References sheet, and four of its fields are the terms above rather than the publisher's:
| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
additions_license |
The licence on open-climate.ai's layer with its address, and the statement that the publisher's values and text stay under the publisher's terms |
credit_line |
The line above, ready to copy |
credit_rule |
Publisher first, then open-climate.ai, a working hyperlink on a website, no implied endorsement |
disclaimer |
"Not legal advice: the publisher's terms prevail." |
They sit beside the publisher's license_code, license_url and license_notice on the same sheet, so a file passed on to someone else still says what it is under.
The same credit over the API and in SQL#
The licence follows the values, not the door you came through. A row taken out of factor search as a spreadsheet or queried in SQL is the same standardised layer as the workbook, so open-climate.ai asks for the same credit when you pass those values on, even though only the download shows a dialog. license_code and attribution_text travel on every exported row; the open-climate.ai half of the credit is on the library's open-data rights payload and its page.
What taking data does not license#
- It does not widen the publisher's licence. A use the publisher's terms refuse is still refused. The five answers per library on What can I do with this data? are the ones that bind you.
- It does not open a restricted library. Those values are in no file, and an account alone does not reveal them: see if you hold the publisher's licence.
- It does not freeze the terms. A tier belongs to a release, so a later edition can arrive under different terms: see when a tier changes.