smartCO2 – A roadmap towards smart EO services for CO2 inventorying and control

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated that the aim of Europe is to be the first climate neutral continent in the world, by 2050 and to cut EU greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030.  To achieve this goal and to fulfil the international commitment under the Paris Agreement, countries reporting to the UNFCCC, must prepare annual National Inventory Reports, reporting GHG emissions of six land use categories. So far, global models and national GHG inventories use different methods to estimate anthropogenic CO2 emissions and removals, leading to heterogeneous national approaches. Spatially and thematically more detailed LULC data is required by departments of public administration.

Within smartCO2 a baseline for developing EO-based information services supporting GHG reporting was established. Furthermore, requirements, gaps and challenges for being able to inventor (i.e. localize and classify) GHG sink or source categories at local scale (Sentinel-2 resolution) for public and commercial applications were evaluated. Additionally, a second emphasis was put on the evaluation of the use of EO solutions for carbon trade off markets, with a special focus on forest carbon.