AiDash, a leading provider of satellite- and AI-powered operations, maintenance, and sustainability solutions, has announced the launch of an urgently needed innovation in carbon measurement and management, which will help organizations unlock the untapped environmental value of corporate land holdings and mitigate the risks of escalating carbon credit pricing.
After COP26, 60 FTSE 100 companies had signed up to reach net zero by 2050, and the coming weeks are likely to see more make this pledge. Many are buying carbon credits to offset their organization’s carbon emissions with the carbon credit market growing 164% in 2021 to record highs. However, this strategy has three significant challenges: The cost of carbon credits will rise significantly, up to 3000%, the validity of carbon credits is hard to guarantee and there are significant issues of additionality, and the Earth doesn’t have enough land to offset all society’s carbon emissions.
While organizations cannot rely solely on purchased carbon credits to meet their net-zero commitments, governments and businesses such as utilities, farming, mining, and timber can look to the carbon reduction potential of their own land holdings as a simpler and more affordable way to measure, control and implement this element of their carbon reduction strategy. These businesses own a substantial amount of land in England and Wales. As a result, they have the biggest opportunity to launch their own carbon offset programs, with potential cost savings of up to 90% when compared with buying the equivalent volume of carbon credits from the market. For example, if utilities, who are estimated to own 450,000 acres, dedicated 10% of this land to carbon capture, they could save almost £300 million by 2035. However, this opportunity is being overlooked with businesses currently unaware of the carbon capture potential of their land holdings or how they can build a workable carbon offset strategy into business operations.
AiDash’s expansion of its Intelligent Sustainability Management System (ISMS) alleviates these challenges by using satellite imaging, combined with AI to determine the amount of carbon captured in land, predict the potential to capture additional carbon and help businesses build plans. The solution not only provides measurements that meet carbon credit standards, but also continuous evidence to prove that credits are based on additional carbon captured and that carbon remains permanently captured in the ground, which is crucial for credible ESG reporting.
“Many organizations will soon be priced out of the carbon emissions market, or they will spend much more than they originally anticipated,” says Abhishek Singh, co-founder and CEO of AiDash. “An easier path is to run your own offset program on your own land and mitigate the price risk for carbon. With ISMS you will not need to buy as many credits as before to reach net-zero and you might achieve your net-zero goal just by using your own land.”
“The priority for businesses when it comes to net zero needs to be scope one and two emissions. If all businesses eliminate the carbon emissions they make directly and indirectly, this will automatically address carbon emissions up and down the supply chain.” concludes Abhishek.
With simple, affordable carbon management, ISMS opens new opportunities for organizations to reduce or even eliminate their third-party carbon credits, lowering the potential risk of carbon-offset price increases. By unlocking the untapped value in their existing land holdings, companies can maximize their carbon capture themselves and improve their local environments.
Globally, over 75 companies of every size use AiDash products on 5 continents and measure and manage biodiversity and carbon sustainability for over 3,500 land and production sites.
About AiDash
AiDash is an AI-first vertical SaaS company on a mission to transform operations, maintenance, and sustainability in industries with geographically distributed assets by using satellites and AI at scale. With access to a continual, near real-time stream of critical data, utilities, energy, mining, and other core industries can make more informed decisions and build optimized long-term plans, all while reducing costs, improving reliability, and achieving sustainability goals. To learn more about how AiDash is helping core industries become more resilient, efficient, and sustainable, visit www.aidash.com.