Project Roadmap

Climate Knowledge Graph (ClimateKG)

Status: In progress

Mission

ClimateKG aims to turn the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report into a reusable, navigable, and FAIR knowledge graph. The project brings together report structure, bibliographic metadata, glossary terms, citations, and data into a semantic layer that supports search, analysis, and publication workflows for policy, research, and public engagement.

Roadmap priorities

The roadmap follows the priorities set out in issue #236 and the project report, with the following milestones:

  1. Lock down the ER model
  2. Add common schemas
  3. Add missing IPCC glossary terms
  4. Release the question bank
  5. Add citations
  6. Add data
  7. Add WG1 figures to the data from GitHub
  8. Add front matter and back matter

Current roadmap

1. Core model and schema stability

  • Finalise the entity-relationship model for the document corpus.
  • Consolidate common schemas for report structure, bibliographic metadata, author data, glossary entries, and references.
  • Stabilise the knowledge graph data model so the project can support community contributions without breaking the underlying structure.

2. IPCC content enrichment

  • Add the missing glossary terms and resolve gaps in terminology coverage.
  • Add citations and cross-reference data needed for reliable discovery and provenance.
  • Capture figure, dataset, and chapter-level metadata in a consistent model.
  • Extend coverage into front matter and back matter to complete the document structure.

3. Data integration and publication

  • Add the remaining data sources required for the report corpus, including structured data and supporting metadata.
  • Add WG1 figures and related data from the GitHub-based source material.
  • Integrate the question bank as a reusable access layer for research and community engagement.
  • Prepare publication outputs for multiple channels, including HTML, structured data, and reusable query-based access.

4. Research and community workflows

  • Support analysis workflows for data scientists and citizen science contributors.
  • Link project data to open scholarly infrastructures and metadata services.
  • Develop a clear review and contribution process for adding data to the knowledge graph.
  • Maintain compatibility with the publishing and data distribution objectives of the project.

Milestone summary

Completed or substantially underway

  • AR6 source material has been harvested and normalised.
  • Supporting metadata sources have been identified and structured.
  • The knowledge graph model has been prototyped and reviewed.
  • Publishing and distribution pathways have been explored with Wikibase and associated tooling.
  • The project has demonstrated document distribution and data-access workflows.

Priority next steps

  • Finalise the ER model and schema layer.
  • Complete missing glossary and citation data.
  • Add the remaining corpus data and WG1 figure assets.
  • Replace provisional structures with a stable public-facing deployment path.
  • Expand publication and analysis tooling for community use.

Project context

The project builds from the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report and the surrounding metadata ecosystem to create a sample of a future climate knowledge infrastructure: structured, linked, and reusable. The roadmap therefore focuses on establishing a robust foundation for the report corpus first, then expanding community analysis, publication, and semantic distribution services on top of that foundation.

Key terms

  • AR6: IPCC Sixth Assessment Report
  • ER model: entity-relationship model for the document corpus
  • FAIR: findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable
  • Wikibase: structured data platform used for the knowledge graph
  • #semanticClimate: project partner and open research community contributing to the climate knowledge effort