Photo credit  | 

Innovating with satellite data to support regulators in tracking and verifying carbon offsetting

News  |  03 November, 2021

Inspired by their work with the Peatlands Task Group, members of Ordnance Survey participating in the FCA Sustainability TechSprint, integrated satellite data into their winning proposal, the Decentralised Carbon Offsetting Platform (DeCO).

Inspired by their work with the Peatlands Task Group, members of Ordnance Survey participating in the FCA Sustainability TechSprint, integrated satellite data into their winning proposal, the Decentralised Carbon Offsetting Platform (DeCO).

The FCA Sustainability TechSprint took place  18-21 October. TechSprints are events that bring together participants from across and outside of financial services to develop technology-based ideas or proof of concepts to address specific industry challenges. The hackathon was aimed at promoting new solutions and proof of concepts to some of the challenges faced by regulators in the area of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data and disclosure.

DeCO: DeCO  proposes to utilise the Woodland Carbon Code, a government backed scheme promoting transparency in ESG reporting by allowing companies to register their carbon sequestration schemes in a publicly accessible database. By taking geolocation information from this database, and utilising freely available sentinel-2 satellite imagery, the team pitching DeCO proposed a platform enabling regulators to remotely monitor forest carbon projects throughout the UK on a weekly basis. Factors such as forest health and coverage can be easily assessed and by leveraging AI technologies these processes can be automated allowing independent verification of carbon offsetting within the UK on a national scale.

Further information about the winning proposal:

FCA TechSprint - DeCo

More information