EP32: Using AI, LiDAR, and satellites to help reforest the planet - Pachama
Fun Fact
The company currently has 23 forest projects — three in the Amazon rain forest in Brazil and Peru and projects in the U.S. in California, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maine.
Founder
Diego Saez-Gil
LAUNCHED
2018
Flagship Product
Carbon offset marketplace
Funding
$4.3M
HQ
San Francisco, CA
Photo credit: Getty Images.
Background
In recent decades, tropical forests have suffered extensive clearing, fragmentation, degradation, and depletion of biodiversity. Once blanketing 12 percent of the world’s landmass, they now cover just 5 percent (Project Drawdown). While destruction continues in many places, tropical forest restoration is growing and may sequester as much as six gigatons of CO2 per year.
Solution
Pachama’s carbon offset marketplace connects forest project developers with carbon offset buyers on a transparent and efficient platform. This way, companies around the world can have an easy way to go carbon neutral and help reforest the planet. The company harnesses machine learning, satellite and LiDAR to verify and monitor forest carbon projects to ensure funds can be allocated in the most efficient and verifiable manner.
Episode Brief
Diego Saez-Gil, Founder and CEO of Pachama, joins Peter on this week’s episode to discuss:
The zigzag path to the eureka moment
How Pachama is helping reforest the planet
Using AI, drones, and satellites to verify and monitor carbon projects
Raising over $4M from some of Silicon Valley’s top investors
How carbon compliance is affecting major industries, like airlines
Credits
HOST
Peter Levin
PRODUCTION
Dan Mahoney
MUSIC
Eddie Knuckles