LiDAR and Forest Carbon

Here are some key takeaways

• LiDAR instruments can be mounted on terrestrial, airborne, or spaceborne platforms, providing estimations of forest structure with varying coverage, resolution and accuracy.

• Forest structure, measured in the field or remotely using LiDAR, synthetic-aperture radar, or photogrammetry, is a crucial component of carbon stock estimation. Each technique has limitations, so robust, scalable monitoring depends on a fusion of data types combined with field surveys on species composition and structural ground-truth. 

• When rating carbon credits, other considerations such as financial additionality, baselines, leakage, and non-permanence remain vital, and often outweigh the risks posed by errors or uncertainties in the reported carbon stock.

• BeZero assesses carbon stocks using state-of-the-art commercial datasets from Planet and Kayrros, public datasets from space agencies and academic labs, and in-house development of novel monitoring products and extensive ground-truth.