Build an Interactive Carbon-Emissions Explorer for a Climate Nonprofit
Overview
What this challenge is about.
You receive 20 years of harmonized European industrial emissions data (around 800,000 rows: country, sector, sub-sector, year, emissions in tons CO2e). Design and build an interactive explorer with at least three coordinated views (map, sector breakdown, time series), a comparison mode (any two countries side by side), and an honest treatment of data caveats (methodology changes, missing years). Use Observable, D3, or Plotly Dash. Run a 30-minute usability test with two journalists and ship one iteration based on their feedback.
The Brief
What you'll do, and what you'll demonstrate.
Ship a journalist-grade interactive emissions explorer with embed support and explicit data-caveat treatment.
Earning criteria — what you'll demonstrate
- Design coordinated multi-view interactive visualizations
- Communicate methodology caveats honestly without overwhelming readers
- Run lightweight usability tests with non-technical experts
- Ship for embedding in third-party contexts
Program Fit
Where this fits in your program.
Sharpens the same skills your degree expects you to demonstrate.
Skills
Skills you'll demonstrate.
Each one shows up on your verified credential.
Careers
Roles this prepares you for.
Real titles. Real skill bridges. Pick the one closest to your trajectory.
AI Product Designer
Designing interactive data products that hold up to expert scrutiny is a core AI product designer skill, especially at climate, public-policy, or media organizations.
This challenge sharpens
- interactive-visualization
- data-storytelling
- user-testing
Data Scientist
Communicating multi-year methodology shifts honestly is the kind of data-storytelling responsibility data scientists carry on public-facing work.
This challenge sharpens
- data-storytelling
- data-journalism
- interactive-visualization
AI Product Manager
Scoping for embed-readiness and external usability tests mirrors AI PM work on data products with external audiences.
This challenge sharpens
- user-testing
- data-storytelling
- interactive-visualization