Verra and Pachama: World’s Largest Carbon Program Pilots Digital Measuring of Forest Carbon

Verra and Pachama introduced last month a cutting-edge digital measurement, reporting, and verification pilot for nature-based solutions, increasing the transparency, integrity, and efficiency of carbon credit issuance.

According to the press release from Verra, despite recent technological advancements, PDF files, spreadsheets, and hand-based measurements remain the core tools for measuring and verifying forest carbon credits. New digital platforms can automate and standardize how data is collected, analyzed, and validated, thereby maintaining objectivity, increasing transparency, and dramatically reducing the costs and time associated with issuing new carbon credits – a significant challenge for today’s carbon market. And Diego Saez Gil, CEO of Pachama adds “After four years of building our satellite data plus AI models to estimate forest carbon storage and deforestation risk, we’ve seen first hand the power of these digital tools to automate and scale carbon crediting”.

Pachama website describes with more details how its works:

1. Gather Satellite Observations. Pachama trains machine learning models using satellite imagery, a vast network of field plots, LiDAR imaging, and other remote sensing data to identify key forest characteristics that are used to estimate carbon.

2. Assess the Baseline. Machine learning models are developed for business-as-usual emissions of carbon projects. Matching pixels within the surrounding region to each and every pixel within the project boundary, based on attributes such as distance to roads, topography, and forest structure. Its a dynamic baseline updated annually to observe what actually happened in forests without carbon projects, and capture shifts in background land use.

3. Estimate Carbon. Additional machine learning models developed to estimate forest carbon storage. And apply these carbon models over large regions, eliminating the need for expensive and time-consuming manual measurements for individual carbon projects.

4. Monitor Forest Change. Carbon offsetters can be notified of any significant changes to a project’s health, such as from illegal logging, as it can impact their net-zero targets.

5. Plan New Forest Projects. And support organizations and individuals to create new forest carbon projects, conserving and restoring millions of hectares of forest worldwide.

Click on the image below to navigate at Pachama's website and here for the press release from Verra.