Fighting climate change with satellite data and AI

The Paris Agreement requires participating countries to report their greenhouse gas emissions in order to determine global progress towards the net zero target. Currently, however, emissions reporting is mainly based on emissions inventories calculated from socio-economic statistics on activities and emission factors. What's more, compiling the data proves to be resource-intensive, time-consuming and associated with many uncertainties – and thus insufficient to evaluate political measures in a timely manner. Empa researcher Gerrit Kuhlmann therefore explains in a case study in the new SATW white paper how AI combined with new earth observation data and earth system models could be used to efficiently monitor greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of the SATW study was to show how new technologies can reduce the negative effects of climate change in Switzerland and make society and the economy more resilient.

Tracking major emitters faster

A global system for measuring greenhouse gas emissions will be an important tool for monitoring progress towards a net zero society. Therefore, monitoring systems are currently being developed that can provide accurate, reliable and global real-time information on anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. These systems use airborne, satellite and ground-based measurements. Models analyze the data and calculate emissions from countries as well as from individual power plants and industrial facilities. "AI plays an important role for global systems, as it makes it possible to process large amounts of data quickly and accurately," says Empa researcher Kuhlmann. "AI-supported algorithms can be used to create global maps of CO₂ and methane emissions. This can be used, for example, to identify emission hotspots or better estimate the carbon footprint of products." In future, this data could be used to quickly identify major polluters and determine their greenhouse gas emissions.

Access to international research programs is crucial

The experts involved in the SATW study have high hopes for the latest developments in AI and satellite-based earth observations in order to master the climate challenges. To ensure that the potential of AI can be fully exploited, the authors of the study have also formulated recommendations for decision-makers in politics and administration, universities and funding institutions as well as companies. For example, the AI capabilities and expertise of national competence centers in the field of climate and sustainability should be strengthened and access to international research programs such as those of the EU should be ensured.

According to Kuhlmann, the development of models for a global monitoring system for greenhouse gases requires access to global earth observation data. "Access to the services of the European Copernicus program is crucial for Switzerland in order to be able to continue research in this area." This is because the EU's Earth observation program is a leader in greenhouse gas observation systems – especially with the upcoming expansion of Earth observation satellites with satellites for CO₂ and methane measurement as well as the European CO₂ monitoring and verification system. These developments are being driven forward in particular within the framework of international research programs such as Horizon Europe, which is why full participation is of central importance for Swiss researchers.