Meet Pachama, An AI Technology Platform That Uses Satellite Data And Machine Learning To Help Companies Achieve Net Zero or Carbon Neutrality To Support Reforestation

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, stopping deforestation and fostering forest restoration might help achieve more than one-third of the necessary climate change mitigation by 2030. Because of their capacity to absorb atmospheric carbon, forests are essential in the fight against climate change now more than ever. Pachama claims that the measurement of this forest carbon capture is underdeveloped due to a lack of reliable data, which causes some very hazy reporting about the capacity of forest programs to lower net emissions. It is challenging to determine whether the numerous forest conservation projects currently underway are meaningfully reducing emissions due to this lack of transparency, which more often than not results in “well-intentioned greenwashing,” according to a recent article by the Yale School of Environment.

San Francisco-based Pachama has created a monitoring software that it claims can objectively confirm the impact of reforestation initiatives to address this issue and modernize the forest carbon market. The method uses remote sensing, LiDAR imaging, and satellite photography to estimate the carbon stored in forests over time and to spot changes in the forest, including those caused by illicit logging. Pachama also discusses findings from this monitoring with both offsetters and project developers.

As a technological startup, Pachama claims to use the most recent developments in satellite photography, remote sensing, and machine learning to precisely estimate the carbon stored in forests and track the development of those forests over time.  The company also claims that businesses can comfortably invest through the platform in any form of project for forest conservation that has passed the company’s review process. Over 800 companies, such as Salesforce, Microsoft, Nespresso, Airbnb, Netflix, Softbank, Vuori, and Flexport, are already using the technology by Pachama, according to the company. Pachama also asserts that it has worked with 46 of the most prolific forest project developers in 14 countries over the course of three years.

As of June 22, 2022, Pachama has acquired $55 million in Series B funding for its tech-focused carbon credit platform. Pachama also plans to utilize the money to continue developing a technologically based, scientifically rigorous approach to verify forest carbon credits in order to scale up the technology required to transform carbon markets, attract talent, increase outreach to corporate and forest developers, and bring quality, integrity, and scale to carbon markets.

References:

• https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/pachama
• https://pachama.com/
• https://www.greenbiz.com/article/what-pachamas-latest-funding-says-about-carbon-offset-verification?utm_medium=social-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=–
• https://agfundernews.com/pachama-nets-55m-series-b-to-boost-accountability-in-forest-carbon-markets
• https://www.finsmes.com/2022/05/pachama-raises-usd55m-in-series-b-funding.html