Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

While nature-based carbon dioxide removal solutions (NBS) hold tremendous potential for stabilizing the climate and creating critical co-benefits for people and nature, the scale and impact of those solutions remains limited by the effort needed to design ecologically and financially sustainable projects. Earthshot Labs seeks to transform this sector by leveraging advanced computational tools to drastically reduce the time and labor required for scoping and designing NBS projects and offering the critical services needed to get them financed and verified.

Earthshot grew out of an impromptu Slack workspace that Troy Carter and Patrick Leung created in 2020 among their ecologically conscious friends to explore how they might contribute to ecological restoration. That community‚ momentum and viral growth showed them that there was a considerable need for bringing together the scientific, technological, financial, and operational infrastructure that could incentivize ecological restoration at unprecedented scales.

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Removes/stores GHGs (e.g., projects that capture, sequester, or otherwise enhance the "sinks" that accumulate and store GHGs)

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Earthshot Labs brings together unique capabilities in technology innovation, project finance, and restoration know-how to enable nature-based solutions that will ultimately stabilize the climate for the benefit of all. Yet we believe this broader mission cannot be achieved unless we work to benefit land stewards, indigenous communities, and those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. 

Reforestation projects have historically focused on working with large landholders and centralized government agencies. Earthshot is working to democratize access to carbon markets and benefiting a greater range of landholders. 

One of our core technologies, the LandOS platform, is the first global open-source model for forecasting forest carbon, soil carbon, and water restoration. By driving down the time and labor required to develop projects and secure financing, the platform will democratize access to carbon markets, and benefit stewards as they complete project scoping and feasibility, while also helping to build their investment case and connect with institutions to finance their project. 

Another Earthshot endeavor, the Biome app, can be used to measure trees through a smartphone camera, leveraging AI and computer vision to replace cost- and labor-intensive methods of forest measurement and verification methods. 

Our hope with the Keeling Curve Prize is to further develop and deploy Biome as a tool to catalyze greater access to carbon markets for smallholders. We anticipate that Biome will knock down barriers and increase accessibility by encouraging all individuals with a smartphone to equitably participate in‚Äîand be compensated for‚Äîbiomass calculations and reforestation outcomes.

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