Berkeley Earth
Berkeley Earth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2010 that produces open-source high-resolution climate temperature, climate model projection, and air quality datasets for researchers, policymakers, urban planners, media, and the public, funded by grants and commercial licensing.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersBerkeley, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Berkeley Earth does
Berkeley Earth is an independent, non-governmental 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2010 and based in Berkeley, California, that produces open-source climate and air quality data products for academic researchers, policymakers, infrastructure planners, media organizations, and the general public. Its portfolio centers on four product lines: a high-resolution instrumental temperature dataset with global coverage since 1850 (some land records back to 1750) at 0.25° × 0.25° grid resolution; the Synthesis platform — a city-level climate intelligence product built on 1.6 billion observations, launched in partnership with C40 Cities in June 2026; a Climate Model Synthesis dataset that bias-corrects and downscales projections from 40 general circulation models across five shared socioeconomic pathways; and a real-time global air quality monitoring service covering PM2.5 and AQI across 175+ countries. The underlying technology uses machine learning to improve spatial resolution to approximately 25 km and to downscale climate model outputs, combined with breakpoint-adjusted station data methodology documented in peer-reviewed publications.
Berkeley Earth's business model combines nonprofit donations and grants (from foundations including Quadrature Climate Foundation and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation) with commercial data licensing for enterprise use, while making the core datasets available free for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license. Revenue and donor-specific figures are not publicly disclosed. The go-to-market approach is a hybrid of community-led open distribution (data downloads, podcasts, press briefings, interactive web tools) and product-led partnerships with channel partners such as C40 Cities (urban climate planning) and Othersphere (infrastructure planning). The customer base spans primary segments in government and policymaking, academic research, infrastructure and urban planning, media, and the general public, with named partnerships including C40 Cities, Othersphere, and editorial features in National Geographic.
Berkeley Earth firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Berkeley Earth
- Legal name
- Berkeley Earth
- Website
- https://berkeleyearth.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Berkeley Earth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2010 that produces open-source high-resolution climate temperature, climate model projection, and air quality datasets for researchers, policymakers, urban planners, media, and the public, funded by grants and commercial licensing.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Berkeley Earth industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Climate Data Analytics
- NAICS
- Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (541360)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Environmental Monitoring, Data & Reporting (Air/Water/Soil) (BPAIAMAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Remote Sensing & Geospatial MRV (Satellite, Aerial, LiDAR, SAR) (EUABACAF), Satellite/Aerial/Remote Sensing MRV (Methane plumes, land-use change) (EUAHADAL)
Keywords
Where Berkeley Earth is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berkeley
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Berkeley Earth business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Donations and Grants: As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN: 46-2032196), Berkeley Earth relies on donations and charitable grants from foundations to fund operations. The organization explicitly solicits support through their website.
- Commercial Data Licensing: For commercial applications, the organization offers licensing through [email protected]. This provides a revenue stream for enterprise or commercial use of their datasets.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Non-Commercial Use (Free) |
| Freemium | Others | Academic/Journalist Access |
| Subscription | Annual | Commercial Licensing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Berkeley Earth product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Berkeley Earth is an independent nonprofit organization that produces and disseminates open-source climate and air-quality datasets, including global high-resolution land/ocean temperature records, real-time PM2.5 air pollution monitoring, and bias-corrected forward-looking climate model projections. It sells and licenses these data products — including its city-level Synthesis platform built on 1.6 billion observations — to governments, researchers, infrastructure planners, and commercial clients, with free non-commercial access under Creative Commons licensing.
Product overview
Berkeley Earth is an independent, non-governmental, open-source environmental data organization offering a portfolio of climate and air quality data products. The core offerings include: (1) High-Resolution Temperature Data — instrumental land/ocean temperature time series and gridded datasets (0.25° resolution) augmented by machine learning; (2) Synthesis — a city-level climate intelligence platform built on 1.6 billion observations for urban climate analysis; (3) Climate Model Synthesis — bias-corrected, downscaled forward-looking climate projections synthesized from 40 GCMs for local forecasting; and (4) Air Quality Monitoring — real-time and historical PM2.5 and AQI data globally. Data is available under Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license for non-commercial use, with commercial licensing available.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Synthesis (City-Level Climate Intelligence Platform) City-level climate intelligence platform that delivers localized climate data and projections to support urban climate resilience, infrastructure planning, and energy system analysis. Targeted at governments, city networks, and infrastructure planners such as C40 Cities.
- High-Resolution Temperature Data Global land/ocean instrumental temperature time series and gridded datasets with ML-augmented spatial resolution (0.25° × 0.25°), covering 1750-present for land and 1850-present for ocean-integrated records. Used by climate researchers, governments, and academic institutions for historical temperature analysis.
- Climate Model Synthesis Forward-looking bias-corrected and downscaled surface temperature and precipitation projections at city-level resolution, synthesized from 40 global climate models. Built for local forecasting, adaptation planning, and resilience decisions by planners and researchers.
- Air Quality Monitoring Real-time and historical global air quality data product including PM2.5 concentration monitoring and air quality index (AQI) maps with hourly updates at city and national level. Used by researchers, journalists, policymakers, and the general public.
- Temperature City List Monthly and annual average temperature time series for approximately 8,000 cities globally, with most cities starting from 1850-1900 and a few as early as 1750. Delivered as a data tool enabling city-level climate trend comparison for researchers, journalists, and the public.
Quantifiable outcome
- 2025 confirmed as third hottest year on record at 1.41°C to 1.47°C above pre-industrial baseline
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Berkeley Earth
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Berkeley Earth technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature5 records
Berkeley Earth partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- C40 CitiescoreBerkeley Earth partnered with C40 Cities for the launch of Synthesis, their new city-level climate intelligence platform. C40 Cities used data from Synthesis to power their landmark global study on how rising cooling demand will reshape energy systems across the world's largest urban centers. A joint launch webinar was held featuring the partnership.
- OtherspherecoreBerkeley Earth and Othersphere partnered to strengthen predictive climate intelligence for infrastructure planning. This partnership bridges climate science with real-world decision making, combining Berkeley Earth's independent climate data with Othersphere's spatial intelligence platform to support smarter, climate-informed decisions about where and how infrastructure gets built.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Berkeley Earth competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- AccuWeather: Commercial weather and climate data provider serving enterprise, media, and government customers globally. Comparable as a monetized climate/weather data provider operating at the intersection of free and licensed access.
- World Resources Institute (WRI): Global research nonprofit producing datasets (e.g., Climate Watch, CAIT) on emissions, climate risk, and sustainable development. Comparable as a mission-driven data and analysis provider serving the same policymaker and researcher base.
- NOAA Climate.gov / NCEI: U.S. government national climate data and analysis portal. Comparable as a primary free public source of global temperature records (NOAAGlobalTemp) used by the same audiences as Berkeley Earth.
- Copernicus Climate Change Service (ECMWF): EU-funded global climate monitoring service producing reanalyses (ERA5), seasonal forecasts, and climate projections. Comparable because it is the dominant free global climate dataset Berkeley Earth competes with and complements for the same researcher and policymaker audiences.
- NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS): Publishes the GISTEMP global surface temperature analysis. Directly comparable as a producer of independent, peer-reviewed global temperature records widely cited alongside Berkeley Earth products.
Direct peers
- Climate Analytics: Climate science and policy nonprofit producing analysis of 1.5°C-compatible pathways, impacts, and policy. Comparable as a science-driven nonprofit translating climate data into actionable analysis for governments and policymakers.
- Climate Central: Independent nonprofit that produces and communicates climate science and sea-level rise analysis. Directly comparable as a non-governmental climate science organization focused on open data, public communication, and policy impact.
Regional players
- Carbon Brief: UK-based climate science journalism site that produces original data-driven analysis and visualizations of global temperature trends. Comparable in combining rigorous climate science with public-facing communications, though rooted in journalism rather than data products.
Emerging players
- Climate Reanalyzer: Interactive climate visualization platform providing near-real-time analysis of global temperature and climate model outputs. Comparable as a direct visualization layer on top of reanalysis and climate model data with overlapping researcher/policy audience.
- Tomorrow.io (formerly Climacell): Commercial weather and climate intelligence platform serving enterprise customers with APIs and insights. Comparable as a paid, API/enterprise distribution model for climate intelligence that contrasts with Berkeley Earth's nonprofit open-source model.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Berkeley Earth social profiles
Digital presenceBerkeley Earth financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Berkeley Earth leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Berkeley Earth funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Berkeley Earth M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Berkeley Earth
What does Berkeley Earth do?
Berkeley Earth is an independent nonprofit organization that produces and disseminates open-source climate and air-quality datasets, including global high-resolution land/ocean temperature records, real-time PM2.5 air pollution monitoring, and bias-corrected forward-looking climate model projections. It sells and licenses these data products — including its city-level Synthesis platform built on 1.6 billion observations — to governments, researchers, infrastructure planners, and commercial clients, with free non-commercial access under Creative Commons licensing.
Is Berkeley Earth a public or private company?
Berkeley Earth is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Berkeley Earth founded?
Berkeley Earth was founded in 2010. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Berkeley Earth based?
Berkeley Earth is headquartered in Berkeley, United States, in the North America region.
How does Berkeley Earth make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Donations and Grants are the primary driver. The others are commercial Data Licensing.
Who are Berkeley Earth's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are AccuWeather, World Resources Institute (WRI), NOAA Climate.gov / NCEI, Copernicus Climate Change Service (ECMWF) and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). Direct peers are Climate Analytics and Climate Central. Carbon Brief is listed as a regional player. Emerging players are Climate Reanalyzer and Tomorrow.io (formerly Climacell).
Does Berkeley Earth have an API?
No public API is recorded for Berkeley Earth.
What industry is Berkeley Earth in?
Berkeley Earth's product category is Climate Data Analytics. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAIAMAC, Environmental Monitoring, Data & Reporting (Air/Water/Soil), with a secondary code of EUABACAF, Remote Sensing & Geospatial MRV (Satellite, Aerial, LiDAR, SAR). Its NAICS code is 541360.