Satellite emissions monitoring company GHGSat shared the first imagery from their Vanguard climate-monitoring satellite for the first time at the start of the COP29 conference in Azerbaijan last week, and followed it up with a recognition of company growth by Deloitte yesterday.

Startup tracking methane from orbit

As has been previously covered in SpaceQ, GHGSat is a Canadian Earth observation startup that has been busily building a constellation of emissions-tracking satellites. The company’s constellation of 12 satellites (with plans to grow to 21 by the end of 2026) is primarily aimed at tracking methane emissions. Methane is not only a significant contributor to climate change, but also an important fossil fuel that is prone to unintended leakage. These leaks can be difficult to detect for both regulators and energy companies, making it an important target for earth observation companies like GHGSat.

This growing constellation has already begun to have an impact on the way that methane emissions are being tracked and understood. In the announcement, the company said that “In 2023 alone, GHGSat’s constellation made over 3 million measurements across 85 countries.” Last month a paper was published in Environmental Research Letters, discussing methane emissions from palm oil mills, that relied strongly on data and information from the company’s satellites.   

Their data was also approved for use through NASA’s Commercial Small Satellite Data Acquisition Program earlier this year, and they have been the recipients of a number of awards from the Canadian Space Agency’s Space Technology Development Program. 

Nine of the satellites were built by the Space Flight Laboratory, while Spire was responsible for building and operating three others, including Vanguard. Space Flight Laboratory is contracted to build two more, and GHGSat said to SpaceQ that information on who will be building the other satellites “will be released in the coming months”. 

GHGSat’s Vanguard imagery of carbon dioxide plumes

GHGSat C-10, aka “Vanguard”, was launched in 2023 and represented a new step for the company. 

Vanguard is the first in their constellation, and the first in the world, with the ability to trace carbon dioxide emissions directly to their emitter, using an infrared camera to reveal concentrations of the otherwise-invisible gas. The goal, according to GHGSat, is to use this unique capability to “enable the standardized measurement of greenhouse gas emissions at sites from carbon-intensive industries, such as steel mills, cement plants, and oil & gas facilities, anywhere in the world.” 

In the imagery shown at the conference, the carbon dioxide emissions being tracked came from a power generating station with — according to GHGSat — an estimated emissions rate of 12 megatonnes of CO₂ every year. The image shows a plume of CO₂ rising from the plant. While GHGSat did not say where the plant was — as their policy is to not disclose the sites’ locations — the Globe and Mail said that their independent investigation suggested that “features in the image match those of a site in western China.” 

In the announcement, Stephane Germain, CEO and Founder of GHGSat, said that this “is a critical first step toward a new era in monitoring emissions from space,” adding that the data from Vanguard will “empower industry operators and government regulators with precise data required to address carbon dioxide emissions.”

Deloitte recognition of GHGSat’s fast growth

In a separate announcement, GHGSat revealed that they’ve also been recognized as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in North  America. On November 21st, they were recognized in Deloitte’s 2024 Technology Fast 500™ awards for the second time, climbing from #81 in 2023 to #44 in 2024 in the Energy & Sustainability Technology category. This follows their recent recognition as in Deloitte Canada’s Fast 50 award, where they were ranked second in a list of the “fastest growing clean technology companies in Canada.” 

The award is based on an assessment of percentage fiscal year revenue growth across a consecutive three-year period.

Germain said in the GHGSat announcement of the award that the company is “honored that our swift growth has been recognized by Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500”, and that the award is a testament to “the ability of our team to move first and fast, building technologies that meet urgent global demands for accurate emissions data.”