Efforts to identify and attribute global emissions will get a boost from satellites to be launched by a consortium including Carbon Mapper, the State of California, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Planet Labs Inc.
Data collected by the satellites will pinpoint and measure sources of methane and carbon dioxide, as well as more than two dozen other environmental indicators, the group said in a statement on Thursday. The first two satellites are set to launch in 2023, with more to be added two years later.Carbon Mapper, a non-profit that plans to make high-emitting methane and CO2 sources publicly visible at the facility level, is at the heart of this latest effort to increase transparency on fossil-fuel industry emissions. The sector accounts for roughly a third of the methane generated by human activity.
“This decade represents an all-hands-on-deck moment for humanity to make critical progress in addressing climate change,” Riley Duren, chief executive officer of Carbon Mapper, said in the statement. “Our mission is to help fill gaps in the emerging global ecosystem of methane and CO2 monitoring systems by delivering data that’s timely, actionable and accessible for science-based decision making.”