California Just Got its ‘Own Damn Satellite’ to Track Methane Pollution

Planet Labs successfully launched California’s very own satellite Monday to help track dangerous pollutants in the state’s fight against the climate crisis.

This new state-of-the-art tool answers California’s own pledge last year for the state and governments around the world to commit to cutting global methane emissions, one of the worst pollutants. California has set its own goal to reduce 40% of its methane emissions by 2030 compared to 2013 levels.

The idea was suggested by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018. At the time, Brown said: “We’re going to launch our own damn satellite to figure out where the pollution is and how we’re going to end it.”

The launch was made possible by the Carbon Mapper Coalition, which is a philanthropically-backed partnership dedicated to filling gaps in the emerging ecosystem of methane and CO2 monitoring systems.

The coalition includes Planet Labs PBC, NASA JPL, RMI, the California Air Resources Board, Arizona State University and others. It has received philanthropic support from High Tide Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Grantham Foundation.

Separate from this launch, as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s California Climate Commitment budget, California has made a $100 million state investment in using satellite methane data. This data could help track upwards of 40% of global methane emissions.

The way the satellite works is by making making high-emitting methane sources visible quickly. The data collected by the satellite will provide a more complete, precise, and timely measurement of methane source level emissions, in addition to more than 25 other environmental indicators.

Satellite methane data will be critical for California regulators to hold polluters accountable, and the rest of the world will benefit as well from transparent and timely access to data on leaks when they occur.

The initiative would bring accountability for the rest of the world as transparent and timely access to data on leaks would be available when they occur. The state would notify polluters in California and take enforcement action if leaks weren’t quickly addressed.

“With today’s satellite launch, California will track harmful pollution and hold polluters accountable,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom, “We couldn’t have done this without our cutting-edge public-private partnership backed by philanthropy. And this is just the beginning – we have more satellites going up in the coming years that will provide real-time methane detection and enforcement.”