Now, in this vein, California has managed to launch the Tanager-1 satellite, which is built to track and mitigate methane emissions, one of the first, concluding steps in the world toward mitigating climate change. The launch took place at the Vandenberg Space Force Base through the collaborative efforts spearheaded by the philanthropically-backed Carbon Mapper Coalition, co-partnered with Planet Labs, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the California Air Resources Board, and others.
The Tanager-1 satellite, created by Planet Labs with the most advanced technology provided by JPL, is designed to be able to detect, locate, and quantify methane and CO2 super-emitters with record-setting precision. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term; it has been identified as a critical target in fighting global warming.
“So dramatic is the improvement in pinpointing leaks of methane and CO2 and assuring that action be taken to stop them,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions. New technology is this perfect example by which to drive greater transparency and so much speed, in less time to progress on emissions reduction.
The Tanager-1 satellite is the first of a series of satellites planned by the Carbon Mapper Coalition, a public-private partnership propped up by philanthropy that brings a diversity of expertise to achieve bold emission reduction objectives. The Coalition has been supported by various philanthropies, including the High Tide Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Grantham Foundation.
“There is more momentum than ever to act on climate,” said Richard Lawrence, Founder and Executive Chairman of the High Tide Foundation, who said that there was a dearth of investment in monitoring methane and CO2 globally bringing large gaps that Tanager-1 envisions filling by scaling high-impact monitoring to drive transparency of super-emitters globally.
Its capabilities will complement other in-orbit sensors that detect emissions, focusing on facilities or equipment that emit over 100 kilograms of methane per hour. This level of granularity empowers industry, policymakers, regulators, and civil society to take source-directed actions to reduce emissions.
“Methane super-emitters represent a disproportionate climate risk and opportunity,” said Riley Duren, founding CEO of Carbon Mapper. He added that “tracking down and fixing these emissions can offer ‘very meaningful’ reductions that can be kept in place with continual monitoring.”.
The Tanager-1 mission also fits within California’s larger climate visions. The state has, for instance, invested $100 million in leveraging satellite methane data to track global emissions from the budget of Governor Gavin Newsom’s California Climate Commitment. The initiative was first launched in 2018 by then-Governor Jerry Brown who famously said, “We’re going to launch our damn satellite to figure out where the pollution is and how we’re going to end it”.
The Tanager-1 mission is a testament to the opportunity that lies in teamwork and ingenuity to help solve one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. It seeks to drive deep GHG emissions reductions in support of global climate change mitigation, on behalf of the Carbon Mapper Coalition, by democratizing access to methane and CO2 data and making it actionable.