Tracking Emissions From Space

Legions of satellites orbit the Earth every day, but only a few monitor our planetary health. GHGSat has 11 satellites in orbit to monitor for methane emissions, and a 12th, named GHGSat C-10 “Vanguard,” launched in November 2023 to look for carbon dioxide emissions and leaks at a 25-meter resolution using spectrometry. “Every gas in the atmosphere has a spectral fingerprint that absorbs light at specific wavelengths, and so when we want to look for [CO2], we tune our spectrometer to look for that fingerprint,” says founder and CEO Stéphane Germain. But finding precise sources of leaks in an atmosphere abundant with CO2 is tricky. Germain believes the company will need 20 satellites total to track daily methane and CO2 spikes, with potential clients including oil and gas companies looking to mitigate emissions.