Local Understanding Precedes Global Action
How powerful imagery tools can help you analyze carbon storage potential
The World Is Changing
The impacts of climate change are transforming many aspects of daily life. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world has until 2030 to cut human-caused carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in half to maintain a 50 percent chance of avoiding the worst effects of climate change. By 2050, CO₂ emissions will need to reach net zero—where emissions are in balance with removals. To achieve this goal, businesses, organizations, and individuals alike need to act and implement measures to reduce or mitigate their carbon footprint.
Common strategies include the following:
· Carbon offsets and credits
· Consumption reduction
· Renewable energy generation
What Is a Carbon Offset?
A carbon offset broadly refers to a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or an increase in carbon storage through land restoration or the planting of trees. Carbon offsetting is possible because climate change is not a localized problem. GHG mix throughout the atmosphere; hence, reducing them anywhere contributes to overall climate protection. It does not matter where GHG emissions are reduced. The effects are the same whether organizations cease emission-causing activities or enable an equivalent emission-reducing activity anywhere in the world.
The realities of climate change in today’s world can make achieving a better future seem like a challenge, but solutions exist, and they’re more accessible than ever. The goal of carbon offsetting is to make it easier and more cost effective for organizations to enable an equivalent emission reducing activity somewhere else in the world. This process infers location intelligence and GIS coupled with imagery data, can help organizations reduce their CO₂ emissions. With tools like ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online organizations more readily have access to accurate data with the capabilities to perform rapid analysis to drive more informed decisions about reductions in CO₂ emissions.
A Location-Based Approach
Identifying the best locations for carbon storage is a common challenge for many carbon offset programs. The abundant crop and forest lands across the US serve as a great storage mechanism and represent a promising opportunity for the carbon offset market. However, assessing the storage potential of an area of interest can be an arduous task involving expensive and time-consuming data collection, processing, and analysis. By leveraging the imagery content and analysis capabilities of ArcGIS, this task can be simplified, scaled, and performed on demand.
Through ArcGIS Online, users have access to a wealth of authoritative forest inventory data collected by the US Forest Service (USFS) Forest Inventory and Analysis Program. This includes data on forest carbon pools and total forest carbon storage potential across the continental United States. These datasets can be used to assess the potential for natural carbon storage virtually anywhere within the Lower 48.
The forest inventory data is shared as image services, which provide users with the ability to display the data in their maps and use it for further analysis. Image services comprise pixels of stored information about what is being observed. In the case of the USFS total forest carbon layer , each pixel contains a value that represents the carbon storage potential estimate in tons per acre. Adding this imagery layer to a map allows users to visualize the spatial distribution of relative storage potential. Areas with a higher presence of organic matter and healthier vegetation will have a greater storage potential than areas with less organic matter and poor vegetation health.
Supercharge Image Analysis
Carbon storage projects can range in size from large contiguous tracts of land to small, dispersed properties. Quantifying the overall storage potential within the project boundary is critical to estimating the amount of carbon that can be offset. With ArcGIS, users can add property and tract boundaries or define an area of interest within the map.
Using the raster analysis tools available with ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online, users can clip the USFS layer to the area of interest. Proprietary inventory data may be used in place of the USFS data if it is available to your organization.
The total storage potential can be calculated for each tract by aggregating individual pixel values within the area of interest and running summary statistics. The result provides a detailed estimate of carbon storage potential that can be used to assess the viability of areas for carbon offset programs before investing additional effort and resources. Click any tract in the map on the right to see the estimated carbon storage potential.
For this area of interest, recent harvest activity has impacted the total forest land available to store carbon. Performing a change detection using drone or satellite imagery shows where change has occurred over time. Using ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online, the harvest areas are removed from the project boundary, and the storage potential for the remaining areas is recalculated.
Carbon storage potential naturally changes over time as organic matter grows or is removed. It is important to monitor and measure this change to ensure accurate estimates for offset programs. Imagery and remote sensing tools are perfect for tracking events —like timber harvests and wildfires—and quantifying the impact they have on storage potential.
The result is an adjusted estimate that accounts for the reduced potential due to the recent harvest activity. Click anywhere in the map on the right to see the adjusted carbon storage potential. This workflow can be applied to any event or performed regularly.
Carbon brokers, organizations, and landowners can use this information to determine the viability of an area for a carbon storage project. A more detailed carbon assessment may be performed as a next step, but this workflow serves as an informative initial evaluation of potential projects.
The Time Is Now
Imagery and remote sensing are increasingly being used to inform decision-making, drive accountability, and spur positive action around climate change. Tools like ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online give organizations the power to manage data, perform quick analysis, and engage more effectively with stakeholders. Together with technology and modern analytical tools, you can build more resilient climate action plans to create a sustainable future.
"Our life's work here at Esri is to balance human-made systems with the natural world. It's the reason we make GIS technology and support our customers and partners in applying GIS to solving the world's problems. We recognize the seriousness of the climate crisis, and we know full well that technology will be a crucial part of the solutions."—Jack Dangermond, Esri President
