ESG is a topic of discussion today more than ever. Investors, corporates and governments need insights to make ESG based investment decisions, to mitigate ESG based risk and to design/amend ESG based policy. But, here is the challenge. More often than not, it is hard to find trustworthy information resources that back any claims made in the direction of ESG. And in rare occasions, when we come across any such resource, it turns out that there is a huge bias, heavy false conditioning and hardly any proof-checking available.
However, there is one source that can revolutionise the game - Satellites! Satellite data can build a narrative around whatever is happening across our planet. Whether it is pollution by any entity, or tree-plantation an entity pledges to indulge in, satellites know the truths behind it all. Claims of decreasing pollution or having net zero environmental impact can be confirmed or falsified using some premium analytics on data obtained from satellites. No production facility can hide from satellites. For this reason, satellite data can be cultivated to help investors quantify the impact of their ESG projects.
The first of the many components that can be monitored include NO2 emission values at the production and/or processing facilities of corporates. These gases are a by-product of any combustion of fossil fuels and are therefore also a component of the exhaust gases.
The data is aggregated by a novel scalable framework of satellite data collection and processing. The Sentinel 5P program from Copernicus serves as the data source for NO2.
Within Germany, there are certain entities (power and chemical plants) whose NO2 footprints over the last 4 years (July 2018-June 2022) let alone match those of entire cities like Berlin, Munich and Hamburg. View "NO2 emissions_Germany.png" in this repository.
The scope of the approach can be expanded by including polluters of any size around the globe in the near future. On top of that, the monitored varibles can include further satellite data - other effluents, land waste, water contamination, ground water levels etc.)
-- Team "StatElite" consisting of Neelesh, Jerome and Nils