Satellite images help protect forests

askEarth AG aims to help companies analyze satellite images for environmental and climate monitoring. According to a press release, the spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) offers software that can be used to analyze forestry data from satellite images. This should make it possible to determine whether there is a risk of deforestation in a specific area overflown by the satellite. This is particularly important in view of a new EU deforestation regulation that comes into force at the end of the year. The new regulation states that every company that places relevant raw materials on the market must report on the deforestation risk of its products. This includes products made from wood, but also soy, cocoa, coffee, rubber, oil palms and cattle. To this end, it is mandatory for the relevant companies to use satellites for the analysis. This data is freely accessible as part of the Copernicus program. The challenge, according to the press release, is to read the satellite images. "It's not easy to analyze the images," Gaetan Petit, co-founder of askEarth, is quoted as saying in the press release. "It takes data science to filter out the information we need." The software can be integrated into a company's existing ERP system, which maps a company's entire supply chain, among other things. It then automatically generates a report that the European Commission can review. ce/eb