After being first announced at COP26 in Glasgow, DEAL was formally launched during a high-level Ministerial Dialogue and Breakfast held on 4 March 2022 in Nairobi. The event, organized in support of the UNEP@50 Ministerial Declaration and the announcement of the UN World Environment Situation Room as a UNEP@50 initiative was co-hosted by H.E the Vice Minister of Environment of Estonia in his capacity as Vice President of the UN Environment Assembly Bureau and facilitated by the UN Science-Policy- Business Forum on the Environment.

With both in-person and virtual contributions from Ministers of Environment, technology giants, space agencies and earth observations centers, the scientific community, UN leadership, youth and members of the society at large, the "Big Data for the Planet Breakfast and Ministerial Dialogue" was an opportunity to share perspective on how big data can transform the future of environmental action while calling for more robust science-based decision making, stronger accountability, and greater transparency and inclusion.