# Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS)

The EU's climate data catalogue: reanalyses such as ERA5 (hourly global weather back to 1940), satellite records, seasonal forecasts and climate projections, downloadable through web forms or the cdsapi Python client with a free account.

- Category: Weather and climate · by Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), operated by ECMWF on behalf of the European Union
- Website: https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/
- Live data: yes
- Checked on the official pages: 2026-10-23

## API

- Official API: yes, docs https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/how-to-api
- Key needed: yes
- Price: Free
- Base URL: https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/api
- Formats: grib, netcdf, json

Example request:

```
https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/api/catalogue/v1/collections/reanalysis-era5-single-levels
```

## Data and license

- Download: https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/datasets (grib, netcdf)
- License: per-dataset licence; ERA5: CC BY 4.0 (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/licences/cc-by); covers Each dataset carries its own licence that must be accepted on the dataset page; ERA5 single levels uses CC BY 4.0
- Commercial use OK
- Credit required
- Embedding with conditions
- Quote (api_official): "The Climate Data Store (CDS) Application Program Interface (API) is a service providing programmatic access to CDS, ADS and CEMS Early Warning DS data." (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/how-to-api)
- Quote (api_key): "If you do not have an account yet, please register If you are not logged in, please login Once logged in, copy the code displayed below to the file $HOME/.cdsapirc" (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/how-to-api)
- Quote (terms_per_dataset): "One must agree to the Terms of Use of a dataset before downloading any data out of it. This step must be done manually from the dataset page (at the bottom of the download form)." (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/how-to-api)
- Quote (api_price): "Access to data is open, free and unrestricted." (https://climate.copernicus.eu/climate-data-store)
- Quote (license): "This dataset is released for use under the CC-BY licence." (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/licences/cc-by)
- Quote (license_era5): "Licence CC-BY licence" (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/datasets/reanalysis-era5-single-levels)
- Quote (commercial): "Access to data is open, free and unrestricted." (https://climate.copernicus.eu/climate-data-store)
- Quote (attribution): "Content accessible through the CDS may only be used under the terms of the license attributed to it, as updated from time to time by the licensors." (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/disclaimer-privacy)
- Quote (embed): "No user may publicly represent or imply that ECMWF and/or the EU are participating in, or has sponsored, approved" (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/disclaimer-privacy)
- Quote (formats): "File format GRIB Update frequency Daily" (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/datasets/reanalysis-era5-single-levels)
- Quote (latency): "ERA5 is updated daily with a latency of about 5 days." (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/datasets/reanalysis-era5-single-levels)
- Quote (formats_netcdf): ""netcdf": "NetCDF4 (Experimental)"" (https://object-store.os-api.cci2.ecmwf.int/cci2-prod-catalogue/resources/reanalysis-era5-single-levels/form_bf94874f55a3bdca2ed65f50da554348910044c37be17e4fd4a2ea0096174239.json)

## Rules for an agent

- Data requests need a personal access token in ~/.cdsapirc and a one-time manual licence acceptance on each dataset page; use pip 'cdsapi>=0.7.7', copy the request from the dataset's 'Show API request code' button, and keep requests small (requests are queued). The STAC catalogue API is readable without a key.
- Register, accept each dataset's licence on its page, and keep the API token out of client code.
- Credit the Copernicus Climate Change Service and follow the dataset's licence (ERA5: CC BY 4.0).
- Do not imply ECMWF or the EU endorse your product.

Human page: https://agentgid.com/resources/copernicus-climate-data-store/
Source: AgentGid (agentgid.com). Facts are quoted from the site's own pages; check the license page before you ship.