A new carbon map based on high resolution satellite imagery that will help companies avoid deforestation in their supplies chains is expected to be published by the end of 2021. The map builds on the High Carbon Stock (HCS) approach, a methodology that differentiates between six categories of vegetation cover, from native forest areas that conservationists say should be protected to degraded lands low in carbon and biodiversity that may be appropriate for conversion to other uses. The map was developed by the EcoVision Lab at ETH Zurich and financed by Barry Callebaut, the world’s largest chocolate maker. The initial release of the map covers Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia. A project by the EcoVision Lab at ETH Zurich expects to have every quarter of the tropics mapped and classified by carbon stock by the end of the year, providing a complete picture of which lands store the most carbon and allowing companies to track deforestation in their supply chains. The map is being constructed by passing publicly available satellite imagery through a deep machine learning algorithm in order to inventory the world’s landscapes at a resolution of 10 by 10 meters. Developed by EcoVision Lab and financed by […]
Chocolate giant funds high resolution carbon map to protect forests
