Climate Impact Assessment Requires Weighting: Introducing the Weighted Climate Dataset

High-resolution gridded climate data are readily available from multiple sources, yet climate research and decision-making increasingly require country and region- specific climate information weighted by socio-economic factors. Moreover, the current landscape of disparate data sources and inconsistent weighting method- ologies exacerbates the reproducibility crisis and undermines scientific integrity. To address these issues, we have developed a globally comprehensive dataset at both country (GADM0) and region (GADM1) levels, encompassing various cli- mate indicators (precipitation, temperature, SPEI, wind gust). Our methodology involves weighting gridded climate data by population density, night-time light intensity, cropland area, and concurrent population count – all proxies for socio- economic activity – before aggregation. We process data from multiple sources, offering daily, monthly, and annual climate variables spanning from 1900 to 2023. A unified framework streamlines our preprocessing steps, and rigorous valida- tion against leading climate impact studies ensures data reliability. The resulting Weighted Climate Dataset is publicly accessible through an online dashboard at https://weightedclimatedata.streamlit.app/.