Explainer: Satellite & remote sensing for climate — the concepts, the economics, and the decision checklist

In 2024, the global remote sensing satellite market reached $48.6 billion, growing at 12.5% annually toward a projected $122.8 billion by 2033 (SNS Insider, 2025). Environmental monitoring emerged as the fastest-growing application segment at 13.3% CAGR, driven by regulatory mandates, carbon market verification requirements, and the urgent need to track greenhouse gas emissions at unprecedented scales. Perhaps most remarkably, the Carbon Mapper Coalition's Tanager-1 satellite detected over 300 methane and CO₂ super-emitter events across 25 countries within just three months of its August 2024 launch, demonstrating how satellite technology has fundamentally transformed our ability to monitor climate-relevant emissions from space.

Why It Matters

Satellite remote sensing represents the only scalable approach to monitoring Earth's climate systems with the spatial coverage, temporal frequency, and measurement consistency required for evidence-based climate policy. Ground-based monitoring networks, while essential for calibration and validation, cannot provide the global coverage needed to track emissions from the 4 million+ industrial facilities operating worldwide.

The economic implications are substantial. According to PwC's State of Climate Tech 2024 report, Q1 2024 saw $8.1 billion invested in climate technology—the second-highest quarter on record—with satellite-enabled verification and monitoring attracting significant capital. The market opportunity stems from three converging forces: regulatory requirements demanding verified emissions data (including the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the SEC's proposed climate disclosure rules), the $100+ billion carbon offset market requiring independent validation, and insurance industry demand for climate risk quantification.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites now dominate the market with approximately 80% share in 2024, enabled by dramatically reduced launch costs and advances in miniaturized sensing technology. Government agencies account for 44.6% of market demand, but the commercial segment is accelerating at 15.4% CAGR as corporations integrate satellite data into ESG reporting, supply chain monitoring, and physical risk assessment workflows.

Key Concepts

Spectral Imaging and Gas Detection: Modern climate satellites employ specialized imaging spectrometers that capture electromagnetic radiation across hundreds of discrete wavelength bands. Hyperspectral instruments like those aboard the Tanager-1 satellite measure 400+ spectral bands from 400-2500 nanometers, enabling precise identification of methane (CH₄), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and other trace gases based on their unique absorption signatures. GHGSat's proprietary Wide-Angle Fabry-Perot (WAF-P) spectrometer achieves 25-meter spatial resolution, detecting emissions as small as 100 kg/hour at individual facility level.

Revisit Time and Temporal Resolution: Satellite constellations must balance global coverage with revisit frequency. A single LEO satellite in sun-synchronous orbit revisits the same location every 15-16 days, insufficient for monitoring dynamic emission events. Constellation architectures address this limitation: GHGSat's 12-satellite fleet provides daily revisit capability for priority industrial sites, while the Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission offers daily global coverage at coarser (7km) resolution.

Tip and Cue Methodology: Advanced monitoring systems employ a hierarchical approach where broad-coverage satellites (like Sentinel-5P) identify potential emission hotspots at regional scale, then "cue" high-resolution commercial satellites (GHGSat, Carbon Mapper) to collect detailed facility-level measurements. This approach optimizes expensive high-resolution tasking resources while maintaining comprehensive global awareness.

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR): Unlike optical instruments that require daylight and clear skies, SAR satellites actively illuminate targets with microwave radiation and measure backscatter. ICEYE's SAR constellation provides all-weather, day-night imaging capability essential for flood monitoring, wildfire progression tracking, and infrastructure change detection—applications where timing of observation cannot depend on atmospheric conditions.

KPI	Measurement Approach	Typical Range	Target for Climate Applications
Spatial Resolution	Ground sample distance (meters)	30m (Landsat) to <1m (Maxar)	<25m for facility-level emissions
Revisit Frequency	Time between observations (days)	1-16 days	Daily for emissions monitoring
Spectral Range	Wavelength coverage (nm)	400-2500nm	SWIR (1500-2500nm) for CH₄/CO₂
Detection Threshold	Minimum detectable emission (kg/hr)	100-1000 kg/hr	<100 kg/hr for leak detection
Geolocation Accuracy	Positioning precision (meters)	3-50m	<10m for facility attribution
Data Latency	Processing to delivery time	Hours to days	<24 hours for actionable alerts

What's Working and What Isn't

What's Working

Commercial Methane Detection at Scale: GHGSat has observed 4 million+ industrial facilities across 110 countries, detecting over 20,000 emissions equivalent to 534 million tonnes CO₂-equivalent in 2024 alone. Their technology has proven that satellite-based emissions monitoring can achieve the precision and reliability required for regulatory compliance and emissions trading.

Public-Philanthropic Data Initiatives: The Carbon Mapper Coalition, funded by $130+ million from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the High Tide Foundation, and the Grantham Foundation, has demonstrated a viable alternative funding model. By making detection data publicly available (with 30-day delay for non-commercial use), they're creating transparency without requiring every organization to purchase expensive commercial subscriptions.

Insurance Industry Integration: ICEYE's SAR satellite constellation has become integral to insurance risk assessment, earning recognition on TIME's 2025 Top GreenTech Companies list. Their December 2024 Series E ($65 million from Solidium Oy, BlackRock, and Seraphim) validated the commercial demand for satellite-derived climate risk data in financial services.

Agricultural Applications: Pula, an Africa-focused startup, raised $20 million in Series B funding (April 2024) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and BlueOrchard. Using satellite monitoring for drought detection and automatic seed replacement triggers, they've documented 16% increases in farmer investment and 56% yield improvements among participating farmers, targeting 100 million farmers by 2029.

What Isn't Working

Data-to-Decision Latency: While satellites can detect emissions within hours, translating observations into actionable response remains slow. The gap between detection and mitigation can stretch to weeks or months as data passes through validation, attribution, notification, and remediation workflows. Real-time operational integration requires significant IT infrastructure investment that many potential users have not made.

Interoperability Challenges: The proliferation of proprietary data formats, coordinate systems, and quality metrics complicates integration across platforms. Organizations attempting to combine GHGSat commercial data with Carbon Mapper public releases, Sentinel-5P scientific products, and ground-based validation measurements face substantial data engineering overhead.

Resolution-Coverage Trade-offs: No current system simultaneously achieves the high spatial resolution needed for facility-level attribution and the frequent global coverage required for comprehensive monitoring. Users must choose between precision (GHGSat's 25m resolution with targeted tasking) and comprehensiveness (Sentinel-5P's daily global coverage at 7km resolution), often requiring expensive multi-source data strategies.

Atmospheric Interference: Cloud cover, aerosols, and surface reflectance variations can obscure optical observations, creating data gaps precisely when monitoring may be most critical (e.g., during storm events, wildfire smoke). SAR systems address weather limitations but cannot detect trace gas concentrations, forcing complementary constellation investments.

Key Players

Established Leaders

Maxar Technologies (Westminster, Colorado) operates the highest-resolution commercial optical satellite constellation with sub-50cm imagery. While Maxar cannot directly detect greenhouse gases, their WorldView Legion constellation (expanded with 5th and 6th satellites in February 2025) provides critical infrastructure mapping and change detection capabilities.

Planet Labs PBC (San Francisco) operates the largest commercial Earth observation constellation with 200+ satellites providing daily global imagery. Their partnership with Carbon Mapper on the Tanager-1 mission extends their capabilities into hyperspectral greenhouse gas detection.

Airbus Defence & Space (Toulouse, France) maintains the Pléiades Neo constellation and partners with ESA on next-generation climate monitoring satellites. Their Q3 2024 partnership with ESA advanced development of enhanced atmospheric monitoring capabilities.

GHGSat (Montreal) leads commercial methane monitoring with their 12-satellite constellation and patented WAF-P spectrometer technology. CEO Stephane Germain was recognized on TIME100 Climate in 2023 for advancing emissions transparency.

Emerging Startups

ICEYE (Helsinki/US) operates the world's largest SAR satellite constellation, providing all-weather flood, wildfire, and infrastructure monitoring. Their December 2024 Series E demonstrated strong investor confidence in satellite-derived climate risk data for insurance applications.

Airmo (Germany) raised €5.2 million in pre-seed funding (2023) to develop LiDAR and spectrometer-equipped satellites for near-real-time global CO₂ and CH₄ measurement. Founded in 2022 by CEO Daria Stepanova, they target oil & gas, agriculture, and financial portfolio applications.

Aistech Space (Barcelona) secured $9.58 million in Series B funding (May 2025) from the European Space Agency and X-Europe for their thermal infrared satellite constellation. Operating 120+ small satellites, they specialize in wildfire detection, deforestation monitoring, and agricultural stress analysis.

MethaneSAT launched in March 2024 as a nonprofit initiative specifically designed to track oil and gas methane emissions globally, complementing commercial offerings with publicly accessible data.

Key Investors & Funders

Breakthrough Energy Ventures (Bill Gates' fund) has invested $3.5 billion across 110+ climate technology companies, including satellite-enabled verification platforms like Pachama.

Seraphim Space operates the leading space technology accelerator (12 cohorts) and has backed ICEYE, Astrogate Labs, and numerous Earth observation startups.

Lowercarbon Capital (Chris Sacca) completed 70 climate tech deals in Q1 2024 alone, including Loam Bio ($70 million Series B), with active interest in satellite-enabled carbon monitoring.

European Space Agency (ESA) provides direct funding to European satellite startups (including Aistech Space) through various development programs and the Copernicus programme.

Examples

Carbon Mapper Coalition and Pakistan Landfill Emissions: In October 2024, the Tanager-1 satellite detected a methane plume exceeding 1,200 kg/hour emanating from a landfill near Karachi, Pakistan. This observation, among the first released publicly by the coalition, demonstrated the ability to identify super-emitters in regions with limited ground-based monitoring infrastructure. The detection triggered engagement with local waste management authorities and highlighted the potential for satellite data to inform methane abatement investments in developing economies.
GHGSat and Permian Basin Monitoring: GHGSat's systematic monitoring of Texas Permian Basin oil and gas operations has revealed that actual methane emissions exceed operator-reported estimates by factors of 2-3x. By providing independent, facility-level measurements, GHGSat data has informed EPA regulatory development and enabled operators to identify and repair specific leaking equipment. The combination of regulatory pressure and commercial availability of accurate emissions data has accelerated voluntary leak detection and repair (LDAR) programs.
Pula and Satellite-Based Crop Insurance in Africa: Pula has enrolled millions of smallholder farmers across Africa in satellite-monitored crop insurance programs. When drought conditions are detected via satellite vegetation indices, insurance payments and seed replacements are automatically triggered without requiring damage assessments or claims processing. This parametric approach—linking payouts directly to satellite observations—has reduced administrative costs, eliminated fraud risk, and improved farmer resilience. The documented 56% yield improvement among participating farmers demonstrates that satellite-enabled risk transfer can meaningfully enhance agricultural productivity and climate adaptation.

Action Checklist

Assess organizational data requirements: Determine whether you need facility-level precision (commercial providers) or regional trends (public Sentinel data) for your specific monitoring objectives.
Evaluate build vs. buy options: Calculate total cost of ownership for in-house satellite data processing versus subscription to processed analytics products from providers like GHGSat SPECTRA or Planet's analytics platforms.
Establish ground-truth validation protocols: Plan calibration against ground-based measurements, particularly if satellite data will inform regulatory reporting or carbon credit verification.
Design data integration architecture: Ensure IT systems can ingest, process, and act upon satellite-derived information within operationally relevant timeframes (typically 24-48 hours for emissions monitoring).
Engage with public data sources first: Access free Copernicus Sentinel data through ESA's Open Access Hub and NASA Earthdata to build internal expertise before committing to commercial subscriptions.
Monitor regulatory developments: Track SEC, EU CSRD, and California climate disclosure requirements to anticipate verification standards that may mandate satellite-based monitoring.

FAQ

Q: How accurate is satellite-based methane detection compared to ground measurements? A: Leading commercial systems like GHGSat achieve detection thresholds of approximately 100 kg/hour with geolocation accuracy within 10-25 meters. Validation studies comparing satellite observations against controlled ground releases and aircraft measurements have demonstrated agreement within 10-30% for emissions above detection thresholds. For large super-emitter events (>500 kg/hour), satellite quantification accuracy approaches that of aircraft-based surveys. However, satellites may miss intermittent emissions that occur outside observation windows, and atmospheric conditions can affect measurement precision.

Q: What is the cost structure for accessing commercial satellite climate data? A: Commercial satellite data pricing varies widely based on resolution, frequency, and processing level. Planet Labs imagery subscriptions for regional coverage typically range from $10,000-50,000 annually. GHGSat's facility-level emissions monitoring services cost $50,000-500,000+ annually depending on site count and monitoring frequency. Public data sources (Sentinel, Landsat) are freely available but require significant processing expertise to extract actionable insights. Many organizations begin with public data experimentation before transitioning to commercial platforms for operational applications.

Q: Can satellite data be used for regulatory compliance and carbon credit verification? A: Increasingly, yes. The EPA has begun incorporating satellite-observed emissions data into enforcement actions. Carbon credit verification bodies including Verra and Gold Standard are developing protocols that accept satellite-based monitoring as evidence of emissions reductions. However, regulatory acceptance varies by jurisdiction, and most frameworks still require satellite observations to be supplemented by ground-based validation. Organizations should consult with relevant regulatory authorities before relying solely on satellite data for compliance purposes.

Q: How do cloud cover and weather conditions affect satellite monitoring reliability? A: Optical and hyperspectral instruments (used for greenhouse gas detection) require clear-sky conditions, meaning 30-60% of observations may be unusable depending on geographic location and season. Tropical regions with persistent cloud cover present particular challenges. SAR instruments (ICEYE, Sentinel-1) operate through clouds and at night, providing all-weather monitoring for applications like flood detection but cannot measure atmospheric gas concentrations. Robust monitoring programs typically combine optical and SAR data sources, accepting data gaps and using temporal averaging to characterize emissions over monthly or annual periods.

Q: What timeline should organizations expect for satellite data integration projects? A: Organizations with existing geospatial capabilities can typically access and begin utilizing public satellite data within 2-4 weeks. Commercial platform integration requires 1-3 months for procurement, API integration, and workflow development. Full operational deployment—including validation, staff training, and process integration—typically requires 6-12 months. Organizations should budget for ongoing data engineering and quality assurance effort equivalent to 0.5-1.0 FTE for moderate-scale monitoring programs.

Sources

SNS Insider. "Remote Sensing Satellite Market Size to Reach USD 122.86 Billion by 2033." GlobeNewswire, January 29, 2025.
PwC. "State of Climate Tech 2024." PwC Global, 2024. Available at: pwc.com/gx/en/issues/esg/climate-tech-investment-adaptation-ai.html
Carbon Mapper Coalition. "First Emissions Detections from the Tanager-1 Satellite." Planet Labs, October 2024. Available at: carbonmapper.org
GHGSat. "Satellite Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Technology." GHGSat, 2024. Available at: ghgsat.com/en/technology
European Space Agency. "GHGSat Mission Description." Earth Online, 2024. Available at: earth.esa.int/eogateway/missions/ghgsat
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "First Greenhouse Gas Plumes Detected With NASA-Designed Instrument." JPL News, October 2024. Available at: jpl.nasa.gov/news
GM Insights. "Remote Sensing Satellite Market Size, Share & Forecast - 2034." 2024. Available at: gminsights.com/industry-analysis/remote-sensing-satellite-market