Climate Data Sovereignty: Stéphane Voisin and Bertrand Badré Highlight a Strategic Challenge for Europe

In an op-ed published on June 11, 2026, in Project Syndicate, Bertrand Badré—former Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the World Bank, Chairman of the Project Syndicate Advisory Board, Founder and Managing Partner of Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital, author of Can Finance Save the World? (Berrett-Koehler, 2018), and Chairman of the PARC Foundation—and Stéphane Voisin, Director of Sustainable Finance and Director of the PARC Foundation at the Institut Louis Bachelier, call for greater awareness of a strategic risk that remains largely underestimated: Europe’s growing dependence on climate data infrastructures and services controlled outside the European Union.

Entitled “What if Europe Loses Access to Its Climate Data?”, their analysis highlights a critical vulnerability at the heart of the European Green Deal. While the European Union generates vast amounts of transition-related information—including corporate sustainability reporting, green taxonomies, climate risk assessments, and decarbonization pathways—the tools that transform these data into actionable knowledge and strategic decision-making capabilities are, to a large extent, developed and operated by non-European actors.

According to the PARC Foundation’s mapping of the ESG data ecosystem, more than 80% of the ESG data used in Europe is currently owned or controlled by entities based outside the European Union. This concentration raises fundamental questions not only about data sovereignty but also about Europe’s competitiveness, scientific independence, and long-term strategic autonomy.

In their op-ed, Bertrand Badré and Stéphane Voisin argue that the issue extends far beyond technology. It directly affects Europe’s ability to produce its own knowledge, uphold its scientific values, and maintain its leadership in climate action, energy, and sustainable finance.

“Data sovereignty is not merely a political slogan; it may determine Europe’s ability to produce its own knowledge.”

The authors also examine the growing impact of artificial intelligence on these challenges. As AI models increasingly rely on massive volumes of data, they reinforce market concentration and make the emergence of European alternatives more difficult. They therefore advocate for the development of open, interoperable, and locally governed data architectures capable of ensuring the continuity of scientific research and industrial innovation.

This contribution is fully aligned with the work carried out by the PARC Foundation at the Institut Louis Bachelier, which has been actively analyzing ESG data infrastructures and their governance challenges for several years.

About the Authors

Stéphane Voisin is Director of Sustainable Finance and Director of the PARC Foundation at the Institut Louis Bachelier.

Bertrand Badré, former Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the World Bank, is Chairman of the Project Syndicate Advisory Board, Founder and Managing Partner of Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital, author of Can Finance Save the World? (Berrett-Koehler, 2018), and Chairman of the PARC Foundation.

Read the full op-ed: “What if Europe Loses Access to Its Climate Data?” https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/europe-needs-data-sovereignty-to-pursue-green-transition-by-bertrand-badre-and-stephane-voisin-2026-06

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