The Climate Change Paris Agreement (2015) and subsequent Glasgow COP26 agreements include an important new requirement for national signatories to validate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through measurement. Legislation will focus on the accuracy and the exact amounts of GHG emissions reported by countries to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). There is a technically challenging regulatory and governance trend, which requires improved GHG measurement and reporting to a high quality. This is because verifiable (directly measured) emissions data is a key enabler for GHG mitigation actions. This is driven by a greater need for granular evidence to increase the reliability in climate decisions whilst avoiding the complexities in devaluation through greenwashing.

Our project will develop and test a new survey and mapping system that will measure high-precision GHG concentrations (CO2, CH4) in three dimensions. It combines advanced scanning laser systems and sensors used with airborne drones. This creates a sampling and measurement system that can sense GHG plumes over any area of interest for the quantification of GHG sinks (or emissions) with high accuracy. Unlike many other methods, emissions calculated from our solution are reported with a transparent uncertainty, which is important for trust and use of the data for emissions accounting. Our solution will provide the data to ensure a robust evidence base to establish effectiveness of climate mitigation schemes. This capability has clear commercial scope to routinely monitor areas of interest to GHG remediation and emission.

The technological solution developed here would provide significant improvement and benefits to GHG inventories; carbon verification schemes; climate based restoration projects; and, increase value of voluntary carbon credits through credibility and robust corporate reporting. It could also provide an important tool for regulatory assessment to support transition to Net Zero.