Tested on real farms
The method worked from start to finish on all three pilot farms.
ESA PROJECT
CarbonTraceCarbon monitoring from space.
CarbonTrace is a project with the European Space Agency, led by Earth Surveillance. It shows how satellite data can follow the carbon stored on agroforestry farms and turn it into records that buyers, investors and certifiers can check.
Carbon is hard to provefor the farmers who store it.
Measuring carbon in the field is expensive and can take up to two years. That keeps smallholder farmers out of carbon markets, even when their trees store large amounts of carbon. In the tropics, clouds also hide farms from ordinary satellite images for months every year.
From field measurementsto evidence from space.
We combined optical and radar satellite data, so clouds no longer stop the monitoring, and turned the data into carbon estimates that can be audited.
In the first phase we tested the whole chain on three pilot farms in Nicaragua and Bolivia, with the cacao producer Xoco Gourmet and a green investment fund.
A fraction of the cost
Compared with field measurements, the cost is estimated to fall by around 90 percent.
Ready for new farms
New farms can be added without special setup for each site.
Phase one is complete.Small farms are now within reach.
The ESA KickStart phase was completed in July 2026. It showed that we can now follow the carbon on small farms too, which used to cost too much to measure in the field. We are working to bring this to more farmers, cooperatives and investors.
Join the journey.Bring your land or your portfolio.
We are looking for producers, cooperatives and investors who want to help bring carbon monitoring to more small farms. Tell us about your land or your portfolio, and we will find out together if it fits.
CarbonTrace is carried out with funding from the European Space Agency.