1. Green businesses in Colombia
Welcome back! Now that you know the basic workflow for data storytelling, it's time to learn about the dataset we'll use throughout the next chapter.
2. What is a green business?
According to Colombia's Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, a green business in Colombia provides eco-friendly goods and services, considering the environment and society's well-being.
These businesses aim to reduce greenhouse gases, incorporate sustainable practices, and promote positive social and environmental impacts. They achieve this by using, transforming, conserving, and valuing resources to contribute to territorial development.
Some environmental authorities in Colombia can verify these businesses when they meet specific criteria.
3. What do we know about them?
So what do we know about them?
We have access to some data about the verified green businesses in Colombia from 2014 and 2020. This data comes from the datos dot gov dot co open data portal.
Let's look at the available variables.
The "year" variable indicates the year in which the verification was carried out.
The "environment_authority" variable refers to the environmental authority that performed the verification.
The "region", "department", and "municipality" variables indicate where the business is located.
The "category" and "sector" variables refer to a classification of the business's economic activity.
And finally, the "result" variable indicates the level of compliance with the verification criteria.
We'll look at these variables in further detail later.
4. Identify a question
Throughout the rest of the course, we'll be focusing on step one of the data storytelling workflow. We'll skip steps two and three as we have already identified our green businesses dataset.
Now, identifying the right question is crucial when it comes to sketch your endpoint. To help you do this effectively, here are three key issues you might want to keep in mind.
First, there's clarity. The question should be clear, specific, and unambiguous to avoid confusion.
Second, there's relevance. The question should be relevant to your audience's needs.
Third, there's actionability. This means that the question should lead to insights and conclusions that can be acted upon.
By taking these issues into account, you'll be well on your way to identifying the right question and telling a powerful story.
5. Our example exercise
Let's role play a little bit. You are working for a policymaker in the Ministry of the Environment. They want to understand the green businesses ecosystem in Colombia because they want to encourage the creation of these businesses and get Colombia closer to achieving its climate goals.
There are many questions you could explore and that may help the policymaker to take decisions. However, for the purposes of this Case Study, let's answer the following question: Where are the green businesses located in Colombia?
6. Let's practice!
Let's see how the process of identifying the question looks like in the following exercises.