A ‘Giant Leap’ For Environmental Measurement

By Michael Barr

Satellite technology could improve the way we monitor emissions and other potential environmental impacts – what could this mean for investors?

Climate change remains a pressing issue globally, with many scientists highlighting the potential impacts if the Earth’s temperature rises above the 1.5°C increase targeted by the Paris Agreement. Accordingly, many governments and corporations have pledged to reduce their carbon footprint and emissions that contribute to climate change. In our view, satellites can play an increasingly valuable role in the accurate monitoring of their progress.

Thanks to an ongoing reduction in launch costs and resulting acceleration in the deployment of satellites to space, monitoring capabilities across the globe have expanded. Historically, emissions “self-monitoring” was far from reliable, with reports of carbon emissions being underestimated by around 5.5 billion tons. In addition to the challenge of monitoring the quantity of emissions, the precise location of emissions has also been difficult to track.

The proliferation of satellites and companies dedicated to tracking and tracing emissions has provided better and more uniform data sets to analyze as society commits to manage these and other climate-change issues. Importantly, it’s not just the measurement of emissions, but also the accurate tracking of deforestation, rising sea levels and temperatures, water and gas leaks, and other issues that are involved here – highlighting the challenges and potential opportunities. As the old saying goes, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Now, we have reliable assets to help measure, monitor, and manage emissions on a global scale.

So, what might this all mean for the space economy? First, satellite-enabled remote sensing has the potential to provide a transparent, scientific baseline to help manage and track variables related to climate change. These data sets can help mitigate the risk of inaccurate or inconsistent self-reporting and allow the global community – both governments and corporations – to not only manage their carbon footprints but also to quickly and easily understand where any potential issues arise. Additionally, we believe satellite-enabled remote sensing should create a trustworthy system for carbon regulation and/or taxation systems, and have the potential to hold entities accountable for their net-zero emission pledges. While beneficial for the environment, this effort is also likely to create new business models around the capture and analysis of this data.

With improving technology, satellites’ role in combating climate change is becoming increasingly apparent. Both governments and corporations are deploying spacecraft to monitor and track our progress. While many terrestrial technologies will hopefully emerge to help stop or reverse climate change, the first “small step” in this process, will not be on the ground, but in space.

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