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LiDAR and Forest Carbon

  • Dr Rishi Das
    Lead, NBS Methodologies
  • Dr Phil Platts
    VP, Geospatial and Earth Observation
  • Dr Niels Andela
    Head of Remote Sensing

Here are some key takeaways

  • LiDAR instruments can be mounted on terrestrial, airborne, or spaceborne platforms, providing estimations of forest structure with varying coverage, resolution and accuracy.

  • Forest structure, measured in the field or remotely using LiDAR, synthetic-aperture radar, or photogrammetry, is a crucial component of carbon stock estimation. Each technique has limitations, so robust, scalable monitoring depends on a fusion of data types combined with field surveys on species composition and structural ground-truth. 

  • When rating carbon credits, other considerations such as financial additionality, baselines, leakage, and non-permanence remain vital, and often outweigh the risks posed by errors or uncertainties in the reported carbon stock.

  • BeZero assesses carbon stocks using state-of-the-art commercial datasets from Planet and Kayrros, public datasets from space agencies and academic labs, and in-house development of novel monitoring products and extensive ground-truth.

Contents

  • Forests are an important climate solution

  • The challenge of measuring forest carbon

  • Types of LiDAR and forest monitoring applications

  • Limitations of remote measurement of carbon stocks

  • How BeZero assesses forest carbon stocks

  • What moves the needle for credit risk?

  • Conclusion

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