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Image by Vlad Kutepov

Surface area of buildings

Data source provider

Copernicus Global Human Settlement Layer

Use cases

Exposure quantification, Investment and lending decisions, Scenario analysis, Stress testing

Data group

Ancillary non-climate data item to support scenario analysis/stress testing

Metric Type

Footprint

Methodology/ Standard / Classification/ Taxonomy / Reference

PCAF: The Global GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard - Financed Emissions

Unit (e.g. CO2)

Floor area (m2)

Dimension (e.g. Sector, Customer)

By Building

Time horizon 

Backward-looking

Frequency

Latest update

Time series

1975-2030

Accessibility

Public

Observation on data availability/gaps

GHSL - Global Human Settlement Layer is an open and free data and tools for assessing the human presence on the planet. The GHS-BUILT-S - R2023A spatial raster dataset depicts the distribution of built-up surfaces, expressed as number of square metres. The data report about the total built-up surface and the built-up surface allocated to dominant non-residential (NRES) uses. Data are spatial-temporal interpolated or extrapolated from 1975 to 2030 in 5 years intervals. For the temporal anchor point of 2018 the data is published at 10m as observed from the S2 image data.

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