Canada invests C$20mn in satellite emissions detection
The government of Canada said November 3 it had invested C$20mn (US$16.1mn) in Montreal-based GHGSat, which is developing a constellation of satellites to track methane and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The funding will be made through Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), which has already made three investments in GHGSat.
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GHGSat will use the funding to expand its fleet of satellites that track emissions using spectrometer imaging to obtain high-resolution images of methane emissions. It currently has three satellites in orbit.
GHGSat also plans to establish secure infrastructure to manage its growing constellation of satellites and transform its data into high-value information products and analytics. Using its microsatellites, GHGSat is the only entity in the world capable of detecting and quantifying methane emissions from point sources as small as individual oil and gas wells.
“Reducing methane emissions is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to slow the rate of warming and fight climate change,” said Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s minister of environment and climate change. “That’s why this investment comes at such a critical time. This week at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), Canada joined a number of other countries in signing on to the Global Methane Pledge, while committing to a world-leading 75% reduction below 2012 levels in methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 2030.”