Planet Releases AI-powered Forest Carbon Monitoring Product — World’s First Global Scale Forest Monitoring System at 3-Meter Resolution

Rhea-AI Summary

Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) has launched its Forest Carbon Monitoring product, offering quarterly, 3-meter resolution measurements of forests globally. This AI-powered system provides unprecedented data to support voluntary carbon markets, regulatory compliance, and deforestation mitigation. The product estimates aboveground carbon, canopy height, and canopy cover worldwide, dating back to 2021.

Leveraging PlanetScope imagery and a global library of LiDAR data, the system offers precise, scalable, and affordable measurements without sacrificing scientific rigor. It can be used to comply with the EU Deforestation Regulation and support carbon project investments. BeZero Carbon, a global ratings agency, has already utilized the product to enhance its carbon ratings methodologies.

Positive

• Launch of innovative Forest Carbon Monitoring product with global 3-meter resolution
• Potential to support multi-trillion dollar carbon market transition
• Partnership with BeZero Carbon for enhanced carbon ratings methodologies
• Product can help companies comply with EU Deforestation Regulation

Negative

• None.

Insights

Tech Expert

Planet's new Forest Carbon Monitoring product represents a significant leap in Earth observation technology. The 3-meter resolution, quarterly global forest data is unprecedented in scale and frequency. This AI-powered system leverages PlanetScope imagery and LiDAR data to provide precise measurements of aboveground carbon, canopy height and cover. The product's ability to monitor from individual trees to entire rainforests could revolutionize carbon markets and deforestation tracking. Its potential applications in regulatory compliance (e.g., EU Deforestation Regulation) and voluntary carbon markets are substantial. The product's historical data dating back to 2021 also provides a valuable baseline for assessing forest changes over time. This innovation positions Planet as a key player in the growing environmental monitoring and carbon credit industries.

Environmental Policy Analyst

The release of Planet's Forest Carbon Monitoring product is a game-changer for climate policy and forest management. Its global coverage and high resolution address a critical gap in current monitoring capabilities. This tool could significantly enhance the accountability and effectiveness of international climate agreements and national forest protection policies. For policymakers and regulators, it offers a cost-effective means to establish baselines, track progress and verify compliance with deforestation commitments. The quarterly updates enable more responsive policy adjustments and interventions. Moreover, this technology could bolster the credibility of carbon offset projects, potentially catalyzing growth in voluntary carbon markets. However, the impact will depend on widespread adoption and integration into existing policy frameworks and market mechanisms.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL), a leading provider of daily Earth data and insights, today released its Forest Carbon Monitoring product, consisting of quarterly, 3-meter resolution measurements of forests globally. This new product offers partners and customers an unprecedented dataset to support voluntary carbon markets, regulatory compliance, and deforestation mitigation.

Planet forest carbon data showing the region of Putamayo in the Amazon rainforest. This visualization was created from their Forest Carbon Monitoring product. (Photo: Business Wire)

“The climate crisis is the biggest challenge humanity faces in the 21st century, yet our greenhouse gas emissions are still rising,” said former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. “Planet’s Forest Carbon Monitoring system is an important tool that helps the world monitor, protect, and manage one of the important resources in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere — our global forests. This kind of information is vitally important to governments, scientists, and advocates working to safeguard humanity’s future.”

This quarterly dataset estimates aboveground carbon, canopy height, and canopy cover over the entire Earth dating back to 2021, setting a new standard for monitoring forest growth and change. Forest Carbon Monitoring equips stakeholders with a cost-effective way to monitor forested areas — scaling from a single tree to the entirety of the Amazon rainforest.

In order to measure forest carbon stocks, stakeholders typically use ground measurements, fly expensive airborne missions over select areas, or pay for temporally and spatially patchy satellite data. But by leveraging Forest Carbon Monitoring data — built using Planet’s extensive archive of PlanetScope imagery and a global library of airborne and spaceborne LiDAR data, with processing by AI — users can derive precise, scalable, and affordable measurements without sacrificing scientific rigor.

Achieving this level of granularity at a consistent cadence is indispensable for emerging voluntary carbon markets and governments. For countries implementing policies to reduce deforestation and sequester carbon, establishing an accurate baseline to quantify the current state of their forests is a critical step. Then they can draw on Forest Carbon Monitoring data to track changes and assess policy impact and effectiveness.

“To protect our planet and preserve its resources, we have to value carbon and nature into our economy. Step one is measurement. To date we faced the choice between tape measures around tree trunks, which is accurate but not scalable, or inaccurate global systems. Planet’s forest carbon data is meant to fix that gap: scalable and precise forest carbon data, at the individual tree level, updated quarterly,” said Planet CEO and co-founder Will Marshall. “We believe this dataset will underpin global carbon markets — a multi-trillion dollar transition.”

Forest Carbon Monitoring can be leveraged by companies aiming to comply with the new EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Measuring tree canopy and carbon stock change of sourcing regions can help mitigate and track any commodity-driven deforestation risks. And in the case of EUDR, ensuring compliance can help companies avoid fines and help jurisdictions sustainably maintain agricultural exports.

Planet partner, BeZero Carbon, a global ratings agency for carbon markets, gained exclusive early access to the Forest Carbon Monitoring product and has leveraged it to further enhance its carbon ratings methodologies. With the 3-meter resolution dataset, BeZero’s carbon ratings offer insights with increased granularity and spatial accuracy. Last year, BeZero was also the first partner to utilize Planet’s Forest Carbon Diligence product, an archive of 30-meter resolution forest carbon data going back as far as 2013. Leveraging both of Planet’s Forest Carbon products — the deep archive of data and the high-resolution monitoring data — BeZero’s customers can better manage risk in their investments and closely track the performance of carbon projects.

“Tackling climate change requires significant investment in carbon projects. BeZero Carbon’s 80-strong science team interrogates these projects using the most timely and complete data possible, so that investments can be made with a clear view of credit quality,” said Dr. Phil Platts, VP of Geospatial and Earth Observation at BeZero Carbon. “Planet’s Forest Carbon Monitoring product is the first and only dataset delivering high cadence, global forest carbon estimates at 3-meter resolution. That level of granularity can make a big difference for monitoring forest intactness, management practices, or scattered trees on farmland.”

Platts continued, “We rate hundreds of projects, of all kinds, all over the world. Doing so requires an enormous range of data, which we evaluate and combine project by project. Having Planet data in the mix is incredibly helpful, and we are using it to detect individual trees, right up to jurisdictional accounting.”

About Planet Labs PBC

Planet is a leading provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions. Planet is driven by a mission to image the world every day, and make change visible, accessible and actionable. Founded in 2010 by three NASA scientists, Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest Earth observation fleet of imaging satellites. Planet provides mission-critical data, advanced insights, and software solutions to over 1,000 customers, comprising the world’s leading agriculture, forestry, intelligence, education and finance companies and government agencies, enabling users to simply and effectively derive unique value from satellite imagery. Planet is a public benefit corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange as PL. To learn more visit www.planet.com and follow us on X (Twitter).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240924630576/en/

Planet Press

Lauren Neville Cottrell

comms@planet.com

Planet Investor Relations

Cleo Palmer-Poroner

ir@planet.com

Source: Planet

FAQ

What is Planet Labs PBC's new Forest Carbon Monitoring product?

Planet Labs PBC's (NYSE:PL) Forest Carbon Monitoring product provides quarterly, 3-meter resolution measurements of forests globally, estimating aboveground carbon, canopy height, and canopy cover dating back to 2021.

How can Planet Labs' (PL) Forest Carbon Monitoring product be used?

The product can be used to support voluntary carbon markets, regulatory compliance (such as EU Deforestation Regulation), deforestation mitigation, and to enhance carbon ratings methodologies for investment decisions.

What technology does Planet Labs (PL) use for its Forest Carbon Monitoring product?

Planet Labs uses AI to process data from its extensive archive of PlanetScope imagery and a global library of airborne and spaceborne LiDAR data to create the Forest Carbon Monitoring product.

Who has already partnered with Planet Labs (PL) to use the Forest Carbon Monitoring product?

BeZero Carbon, a global ratings agency for carbon markets, has gained exclusive early access to the Forest Carbon Monitoring product and is using it to enhance its carbon ratings methodologies.