Satellites, soil & forest carbon with Arbonics

Over the last couple of years forest carbon credits have become an increasingly contentious solution to the climate challenge because of questions around additionality, permanence and leakage. 

Scandals have emerged over how carbon credits are estimated and assessed, much of which stems from outdated or flawed methodologies. The risk of greenwashing is a core concern, that credits have been used by companies to appear climate-friendly without delivering real impact.

With advancing technology, stronger regulation and the introduction of dynamic baselines however, nature-based solutions like forest conservation and reforestation are critical to the capture and storage of CO2 in natural ecosystems. The market is evolving quickly, offering significant opportunities as it matures.

In this episode, Felicia Jackson sits down with Lisett Luik, co-founder of Arbonics, to dive into the challenges and potential of nature-based carbon removal, from using satellite data and LiDAR to build a “digital twin” of forests, to navigating the complexities of carbon markets, trust, and transparency. 

The conversation also explores how companies like Microsoft are evolving their carbon removal strategies, highlighting the spectrum of approaches available—from avoidance and forest conservation to cutting-edge technological removals. It examines what makes forest carbon credits either valuable or controversial, and emphasizes the essential role nature-based solutions will play over the next 30 to 50 years, even if their impacts aren't always permanent.

And for those of you interested in the articles discussed on the podcast, or want some further reading:

• Measuring Forest Carbon (remembering allometric equations)
• Realigning Climate Finance: Is It Time We Move From Oil to Soil?
• We won't achieve gigatonne carbon removal
• Carbon Removal’s Wrong Turn
• The Frontier Coalition for Carbon Dioxide Removal (technical)
• The Symbiosis Coalition for Nature Based Carbon Removals

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