Forestry management software developer Treemetrics has confirmed it has signed a €1.2m contract with the European Space Agency.
Cork-based Treemetrics will utilise satellite imaging, data analytics and its advanced forest measurement technology to provide more accurate forest carbon credit estimates.
Demand for estimates nearly quadrupled in 2021, driven by a growing desire among companies and individuals to reduce their carbon footprint, and many organisations have to plant trees and restore forests in their climate action efforts.
Treemetrics have been providing technology solutions to the global forestry industry for the past 18 years. The company has clients in over 40 countries, and its solutions utilise mobile applications, remote sensing, data mining and satellite communications technology.
“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 Enda Keane, CEO of Treemetrics.
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"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. It is essential that we accurately measure and harness one of our greatest natural resources, forests, and this is what Treemetrics has been working on since its foundation.”
Treemetrics was founded by Keane and Garret Mullooly in 2005, and the company signed a €1m deal with Coillte in 2017 to create a real-time satellite communications and data analytics platform to help it manage forestry harvesting.
The company developed the technology -- which communicates directly with harvest cutting machines, delivering positioning and mapping services to the driver-operators as well as sharing data about the tree-logs in real time with forest managers and sawmill wood buyers -- in partnership with the ESA over for years.
The latest deal with ESA was first announced last week. Treemetrics and Irish IoT firm Davra were awarded a total of €3m under the ESA's Earth Observation programme.
Welcoming the announcement, Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail Damien English said: “This announcement highlights the importance of our Government’s continued investment in the ESA which provides companies like Treemetrics with free access to space data in order to develop their innovative technologies.
"Treemetrics are a fantastic example of an innovative Irish company playing their part in helping to reduce greenhouse gases by helping to provide more accurate carbon capture data for forest owners.”
The latest accounts for Treemetrics show the company lost close to €300,000 and reduced employee numbers from 13 to nine in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.
The balance of the firm's profit and loss account was -€2.9m and net liabilities totalled -€70,518, with assets of approximately €542,000 and liabilities of around €612,000.
