Article

Seeing the Trees Through the Forest: A Q&A with Pachama

Posted November 29, 2021 | Sustainability | Leadership | Technology | Amplify
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We continue the trend of the last CBTJ issue with an interview of a top-notch expert whose company is helping to make great strides toward sustainability. Cutter Consortium Fellow Lou Mazzucchelli talks with Carlos Silva of Pachama, a company that uses satellite imagery and ML to measure the carbon captured by forests and how it evolves over time. This measurement allows us to determine whether a carbon credit that is traded on an exchange represents a “real” reduction in emissions. The verifiability and accuracy of such measurements form the foundation for robust carbon markets. Silva explains how the technology works to ensure the integrity of forest carbon credits.
About The Author
Lou Mazzucchelli
Lou Mazzucchelli is a Fellow of Cutter Consortium and a member of Arthur D. Little's AMP open consulting network. He provides advisory services to technology and media companies. He will lend his broad expertise (and considerable wit) to Cutter Summit 2022 as its Moderator. Recently, Mr. Mazzucchelli was the coordinator of Bryant University’s Entrepreneurship Program, where he retooled and taught senior-level entrepreneurship courses. He… Read More
Carlos Silva
Carlos Silva is Head Remote Sensing Scientist at Pachama, where he oversees the science for quantifying forest carbon from space and airborne observations, including LiDAR, radar, and satellite imagery. Dr. Silva also leads development of Pachama’s carbon-crediting standards to ensure that credits transacted correspond to net reductions in forest carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Previously, he worked on the science team of NASA’s Global… Read More
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