Cork-based Treemetrics wins €1.2m contract with European Space Agency

Treemetrics provides its clients, which include Coillte and the World Bank, with ways to become carbon neutral by facilitating the sale of forests to corporate companies for carbon credits.

Enda Keane, Chief Executive Officer Treemetrics, said: “Sustainable forest management is about trying to get more timber produced from less trees.” Picture: Jim Coughlan

Cork-based forestry software company Treemetrics, which facilitates the auction and measurement of forests, has signed a €1.2m contract with the European Space Agency (ESA).

The two-year contract will allow Treemetrics to use ESA tools such as satellite imaging and data analytics to create accurate forest carbon credit estimates.

“Treemetrics is delighted to work with the European Space Agency on this new project, which will play an essential role in building greater trust and transparency in this rapidly growing forest carbon credit market,” said CEO of Treemetrics Enda Keane, who is also a former Teagasc worker.

Treemetrics provides its clients, including Coillte and the World Bank, with ways to become carbon neutral by facilitating the sale of forests to corporate companies for carbon credits, which are used to offset their emissions.

"The measurement and management of forests will be a key factor in the global community’s efforts to tackle the effects of climate change and to live and operate sustainably,” said Mr Keane.

However, there are some critics of carbon credits such as Greenpeace that say carbon credits do not provide a reduction in the carbon emissions entering the atmosphere but are used as a “distraction” by big companies. The global demand for forest carbon credits nearly quadrupled in 2021.

Mr Keane previously told the Irish Examiner that Treemetrics and the ESA are working on a new tool for sustainable forest management.

“Sustainable forest management is about trying to get more timber produced from less trees,” said Mr Keane.

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