BOULDER, Colo. (PRWEB) April 15, 2021

The State of California, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planet, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, High Tide Foundation and RMI are partnering with Carbon Mapper, a new non-profit organization, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon Mapper is focused on accelerating the reduction of global methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through the use of hyperspectral satellite constellations that will pinpoint and measure emissions at the scale of individual facilities with verifiable high accuracy.

The new organization will also create a public portal to make open-source data available for use by a diverse group of stakeholders.

“Before Carbon Mapper, measuring methane and CO2 with sufficient coverage across the globe has been challenging, costly, and almost impossible to scale,” said RMI Senior Fellow Deborah Gordon. “RMI is excited to use Carbon Mapper to help certify low-methane natural gas, improve industry practices, and make emissions visible to accelerate global action.”

Carbon Mapper instruments will ultimately offer daily sampling for high priority areas, making emissions sources publicly visible at a level of detail not yet seen to date. The organization’s constellation of satellites will generate accurate and timely methane and CO2 measurements, in addition to over 25 other environmental indicators.

“Carbon Mapper’s 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,” said Riley Duren, Carbon Mapper Chief Executive Officer. “This requires confronting some persistent institutional challenges that we’ve addressed by bringing together a coalition of public and private sector entities and philanthropy, all aligned with a common purpose.”

High Tide led the funding effort to catalyze low-cost mitigation of greenhouse gases through an innovative partnership model. “Carbon Mapper is uniquely positioned to maximize the impact of philanthropic dollars,” said Richard Lawrence, Founder and Director of High Tide Foundation.

RMI’s participation in Carbon Mapper is part of its Oil & Gas Solutions initiative, which focuses on driving immediate reductions in oil and gas sector greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Action Engine, a multi-layered data, analytics, and insights system co-developed by RMI, will be one of a myriad use cases for Carbon Mapper data. RMI is also piloting a differentiated natural gas standard, MiQ, to establish an independent certification system for low-methane gas. Prototyped Carbon Mapper data collected by aircraft already contribute to both of these climate mitigation efforts.

“Bringing visibility to emissions is critical, especially in a traditionally opaque sector like oil and gas,” said RMI Oil & Gas Solutions team member Fran Reuland, who supports the Carbon Mapper initiative. “But this mission is larger than any one organization; not only must every new effort be additive, but it must give turbocharge to existing ones, just as Carbon Mapper does.”

Carbon Mapper will help sow the seed for developing climate intelligence across anthropogenic emitting sectors. Beyond oil and gas, the data streams will support a new foundation-backed, collaborative effort to tackle landfill methane.

Learn more about Carbon Mapper: http://www.carbonmapper.org

Media Inquiries please contact:

Alexandra Chin, Media Relations Lead: achin@rmi.org

About RMI

RMI is an independent nonprofit founded in 1982 that transforms global energy systems through market-driven solutions to align with a 1.5°C future and secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. We work in the world’s most critical geographies and engage businesses, policymakers, communities, and NGOs to identify and scale energy system interventions that will cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2030. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Oakland, California; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing. http://www.rmi.org

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