"The climate crisis is the biggest challenge humanity faces in the 21st century, yet our greenhouse gas emissions are still rising," said former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. "Planet's Forest Carbon Monitoring system is an important tool that helps the world monitor, protect, and manage one of the important resources in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere - our global forests. This kind of information is vitally important to governments, scientists, and advocates working to safeguard humanity's future."
The product provides estimates of aboveground carbon, canopy height, and canopy cover across the globe dating back to 2021, helping users monitor forest changes with an unprecedented level of detail. It is designed to scale from a single tree to entire regions like the Amazon rainforest, delivering cost-effective insights to users.
Current methods of forest carbon monitoring often involve expensive ground measurements or limited satellite data, but Planet's solution, using its extensive PlanetScope image archive and advanced AI to process LiDAR data, offers scalable, affordable, and scientifically rigorous measurements.
The product will serve as a critical resource for voluntary carbon markets and governmental policy implementation. For countries that need to measure deforestation and carbon sequestration, Forest Carbon Monitoring provides an accurate baseline and regular updates on changes.
"To protect our planet and preserve its resources, we have to value carbon and nature into our economy. Step one is measurement," said Will Marshall, CEO and co-founder of Planet. "Planet's forest carbon data is meant to fix that gap: scalable and precise forest carbon data, at the individual tree level, updated quarterly. We believe this dataset will underpin global carbon markets - a multi-trillion dollar transition."
The product is also expected to help companies comply with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) by tracking deforestation risks and ensuring adherence to sustainability requirements in agricultural supply chains.
Planet's partner BeZero Carbon, which focuses on carbon market ratings, was given early access to the product. BeZero has used the high-resolution dataset to improve its carbon ratings methodologies, providing users with more detailed, accurate insights. This builds on the company's previous use of Planet's 30-meter resolution archive data from 2013.
"Tackling climate change requires significant investment in carbon projects," said Dr. Phil Platts, VP of Geospatial and Earth Observation at BeZero Carbon. "Planet's Forest Carbon Monitoring product is the first and only dataset delivering high cadence, global forest carbon estimates at 3-meter resolution. That level of granularity can make a big difference for monitoring forest intactness, management practices, or scattered trees on farmland."
Platts added that BeZero rates projects across the globe and relies on a wide range of data to assess them. Planet's high-resolution monitoring data allows for detailed evaluations, even down to individual trees.
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