Following this week’s latest controversy in the voluntary carbon market, we agree that what is needed is a collaborative effort to identify and rectify the flaws in the current approach as raised by the article and the scientific research cited. The role of technology-based solutions in providing robust monitoring, reporting and verification data at all stages of an environmental project is key to this.
The article cited a report from the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project. To quote Jennifer Holm, PhD, Research Scientist from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: “We were taken aback by the very low estimates of natural disturbance risk used by projects, which were less than one tenth the risk we see in remote sensing imagery.”
It is evident that the tools and data used in developing a carbon project can result in vastly different quality outcomes. In their report, remote sensing was key to providing high quality, in-depth assessment of projects for proper accounting of natural risks.
Adatos agrees that greater reliance on comprehensive remote sensing and other technology-based solutions are vital to provide robust monitoring, reporting and verification data, ensuring transparency and accountability at every stage. Combining high-resolution remote sensing data with advanced AI can address challenges in additionality, leakage and permanence by providing detailed and timely data for continuous MRV. In doing so, we can harness the full potential of voluntary carbon as a robust tool to combat climate change.