Cities that have committed to reducing their carbon footprint by 80% within the next 30 years rely on huge carbon data sets to help identify where they may be able to cut emissions. Now, Google offers an app to help with that.

The Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE) is a new online tool created in collaboration with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy to make it easier for cities to access, and act upon, climate-relevant data sets. EIE analyzes Google’s comprehensive global mapping data together with standard greenhouse gas emission factors to estimate city-scale building and transportation carbon emissions data as well as renewable energy potential.

Data sets that once required on-site measurements and many months to compile can now be assessed virtually, reducing cost and time investment that prevents cities from taking action.

Four categories of data are available on the EIE site: building emissions, transportation emissions, energy offset potential and 20-year climate projections. Users can drill down into more specific statistics in each category, including percentage breakdowns of emissions and the time period from which the data was culled. The EIE data can also inform specific projects such as new investments in solar, public transit or mobility alternatives to reduce vehicle traffic.

The beta version of EIE covers pilot cities including Melbourne, Australia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Victoria, Canada; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Mountain View, California.

Transportation emissions data for Buenos Aires, Argentina. Source: Google