Research Guides: *Environmental Studies: Data & Statistics

Strategies for Finding Data

Data and statistics for environmental studies and climate change research can be produced by researchers in a variety of disciplines. The sources you use will differ depending on the scope of your topic, the area(s) of the world you're focusing on, and the type of analysis you're conducting, etc. Here are some examples of places where you may find data and statistics on your topic:

Online data repositories. These could be for specific countries (e.g., Data.gov), organizations (e.g., the United Nations), or topics (e.g., GBIF's Biodiversity Data).
Peer-reviewed articles that include primary scientific research.
Technical reports and other grey literature published by relevant disciplines.
Reference sources for environmental studies & related disciplines.

Environmental Studies Data & Statistics

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Dataset Gateway
Data portal from the U.S. EPA with data covering topics such as aquifers, climate change, ecological regions, and more.
FAOSTAT
Food and agriculture data for over 245 countries and territories and covers all FAO regional groupings from 1961 to the most recent year available.
Climate Change Knowledge Portal (World Bank)
Global data on historic and future climate change vulnerabilities. Explore data by topic, watershed, or country.
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Data on natural hazards, ocean drilling, bathymetry, geophysics, etc.
National Agriculture Statistics Service
Conducts hundreds of surveys every year and prepares reports covering virtually every aspect of U.S. agriculture. Production and supplies of food and fiber, prices paid and received by farmers, farm labor and wages, farm finances, chemical use, and changes in the demographics of U.S. producers are only a few examples.

Geospatial Data Sources

Additional data sources, including geospatial data sources, are available in our GIS Data Guide:

Energy, Environment & Climate Data
Geospatial data for energy, environmental science, climate change, and geology-related research. Includes data on biota, weather patterns, land use, renewable energy, minerals, mining, etc.