Utilizing satellite drones to verify the carbon emissions portion of a company's ESG report | Jinglun Qiang

Field l Discipline

• Environmental science
• Energy & Fuels

Expertise

• Energy Modelling
• Biomass Energy
• Carbon Emission Accounting

Summary

Greenhouse gases are responsible for global warming, although countries are taking countermeasures. As the goals of modern business have broadened from solely maximizing profits to including societal responsibilities, their own environmental impacts should be disclosed and monitored, and ESG (Environment-Social-Governance) reporting is one means of doing so. While ESG information has become an integral part of investors’ examination of investment targets regarding the disclosure of nonfinancial performance, it is often not substantiated with supporting information or assurance. Unaudited ESG reports can convey distorted or misleading information to investors. Therefore, it is important to effectively review the ESG reports issued by companies.

GHG emissions of one corporation are an important part of the environmental section of the ESG report, and how to verify the accuracy of the emission values published by companies is the focus of this project. Methodology for verifying greenhouse gas emission is intended to use in situ measurements and satellites combined with modelling analysis. In situ measurement methods for local scale mainly rely on downwind measurements by UAVs or mobile vehicles carrying relevant measurement equipment; satellite's monitor is primarily an analysis of regional greenhouse gas emissions using imagery. after measuring the relevant data, the GHG emission concentration could be quantified by the relevant quantitative analysis models.

Supervision by

• Promotor Prof. dr. K.S. (Klaus) Hubacek | Integrated Research on Energy, Environment and Society - IREES | ESRIG, University of Groningen.
• Co-promoter Dr. F. (Franco) Ruzzenenti | Integrated Research on Energy, Environment and Society - IREES | ESRIG, University of Groningen.

More information and contact details can be found on the personal profile of Jinglun Qiang