Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the questions we get asked most — access, licensing, formats, and contributing.
What is the Climate Data Hub?
A quality-assured catalog of climate and agriculture datasets across CGIAR Climate Action. Every dataset is harmonised to one metadata standard, openly licensed, and distributed in cloud-native formats, so it can be discovered, cited, and used the same way.
Do I need an account to access the data?
No. All published data is openly accessible over HTTPS and S3 — stream it directly with tools like xarray or rioxarray, or download individual files. There is no registration, API key, or quota.
How is the data licensed?
CC-BY-4.0 unless a dataset page says otherwise (some sources are CC-BY-SA-4.0 or public domain). You can reuse it freely — including commercially — as long as you credit the original producers as given in the dataset’s citation. See licensing and attribution for details.
What formats does the Hub use?
Cloud-optimised formats: Zarr for multi-dimensional data cubes and Cloud-Optimised GeoTIFF (COG) for rasters. That means you can read just the spatial or temporal window you need without downloading whole archives.
How do I cite a dataset?
Every dataset page has a copy-ready citation and, where one exists, a DOI. Cite the original producers (for example FAO or IFPRI) alongside the Hub record.
Can I contribute a dataset?
Yes. Harmonise your data to a supported format, author a metadata record against the CDH standard, and open a submission pull request. Hub maintainers and a domain reviewer check it before publication — see the contribute page for the full path.
I found a problem with a dataset — where do I report it?
Open an issue on the Hub’s GitHub organisation, or email the point of contact listed on the dataset page. Records are versioned, so corrections are tracked and attributed.
Something missing? Ask on GitHub or read the wikis.