This story is part of ClimateTechReview Climate Tech 100 series, which will feature 100 global companies helping address climate change by innovating in the fields of renewable energy, electric mobility, energy storage, energy efficiency, CCUS and climate finance. If you have a story to share, email us at hello@climatetechreview.com.
In this episode of Climate Tech 100, we have Orbio Earth.
Orbio Earth is a company that is revolutionizing the way we understand and address methane emissions.
Utilizing satellite data, they capture images of methane emissions every four days from any location on earth.
By reconciling this satellite data with emission factor datasets, Orbio Earth provides better emission benchmarks for assets, companies, and supply chains.
Understanding methane emissions is crucial in the fight against climate change.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and reducing its emissions is a quick win in mitigating the effects of climate change.
In fact, stopping man-made methane emissions from the energy industry alone could prevent 0.2°C of global warming.
However, methane is often forgotten or left out of the equation when we talk about climate change, because we usually focus on just carbon dioxide.
Orbio Earth provides stakeholders with the necessary data to prevent methane emissions, making it an essential player in the climate change mitigation effort.
Orbio Earth is different from other companies that monitor methane emissions in several ways.
Firstly, they deliver data at high spatial resolutions, allowing for emissions to be attributed to specific assets.
This is in contrast to the regional scale resolutions that are typically used by other methane-specific satellites, which can make it challenging to determine the source of methane emissions.
Additionally, Orbio Earth has begun reconciling emissions data with non-emission datasets, providing more comprehensive reporting efforts and aiding with risk identification.
Now, let’s find out more about Orbio Earth by talking to the team.
What is Orbio Earth doing, and how is it addressing climate change?
Orbio monitors methane emissions from the energy industry using satellites.
Methane emissions from the energy industry, if prevented, would have the climate impact equivalent to taking all cars and trucks off the road globally.
By providing actionable data to the industry Orbio is helping identify and inform reduction opportunities.
Can you tell us more about the technology behind Orbio Earth and how it works to quantify methane emissions?
We utilise publicly available satellite data.
By analysing a specific spectral band the can intercept methane frequency we have developed an algorithm that quantifies excessive concentrations of methane in the atmosphere.
We then pair this with asset ownership data so we are able to help benchmark assets + companies on the ground.
What types of industries or sectors can benefit from the high-frequency, multi-scale methane emission quantification data provided by Orbio Earth?
- Oil & gas operators – to aid reporting to regulators and identify reduction opportunities.
- Financial companies – monitoring loans + transitional risk of portfolios.
- Data aggregators – informing existing carbon models.
- Gas buyers – looking to understand scope 3 methane emissions.
How does Orbio Earth work with its clients to develop emissions reduction strategies based on the data provided?
Our platform can look at data going back 5+ years.
Through this analysis we can identify where, in a companies large asset portfolio (can be +100,000 assets), their most persistent emitters are.
This helps inform an emission reduction strategy by saving time on identifying which assets to focus on first.
What impact do you hope Orbio Earth will have on global efforts to reduce methane emissions and combat climate change?
We aim to enable the mitigation of methane emissions by 10 million tonnes by 2030.
How do you ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data collected by Orbio Earth?
We carry out external validation through research partnerships.
For example, we are engaging with Stanford University to blind test our technology from a release of methane emissions from an oil & gas asset.
We also validate against publicly available measurement data.
There are publicly available resources that we can compare our methane emissions data against.
Can you speak to any success stories or case studies where Orbio Earth has helped clients achieve emissions reductions or cost savings?
We are still in testing phase.
However we are engaging with one operator to provide more frequent LDAR of their whole asset portfolio across a region in North Africa.
How does Orbio Earth plan to expand its global reach and increase the adoption of its technology and data?
We are looking to transition to a freemium/product-led growth model where we can move away from a manual sales operation and towards an automated marketing function of the product online.
Summary
Find out more about Orbio Earth at https://orbio.earth.