Scottish firm launches ‘world-first’ forest restoration map 

A Scottish satellite company has launched a “world-first” mapping platform to help users locate forest protection and restoration projects across the globe.

Edinburgh-based Space Intelligence’s GOOD-COP (Global Overview of Delivery of Carbon In Operational Projects) resource also offers supporting data on carbon storage, biodiversity and historical deforestation.

The new platform aims to improve transparency and understanding of the forest carbon project market, which will help ensure that money goes to the best schemes. In turn, this will see that the world’s habitats are protected and restored cost-effectively.

Unveiled during the crucial Cop26 summit in Glasgow, GOOD-COP is a “powerful visual
demonstration” of how the world is taking action on climate through investments in avoided deforestation and reforestation projects.

Space Intelligence said this is the first time voluntary sector forest carbon projects from around the world are presented in an interactive map. 

As such, the “easy to use” platform allows individuals, companies and governments to see where projects are, and to review their predicted performance, all in one place.

It is hoped this will be beneficial to groups who want to compare the biodiversity, carbon storage, or past deforestation of different projects within a region, or of a particular type.

The site currently includes all forest projects certified by the largest certification player Verra under their Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), plus projects certified under the Plan Vivo Standard, and the Woodland Carbon Code.

Carol Blackwood, geospatial platform lead at Space Intelligence, who led the development of
GOOD-COP, said: “Bringing this data together in a single map to tell the story of what is
happening around the world is extremely valuable. The mapping highlights where real change
is already happening thanks to these forest carbon conservation projects and where there’s
potential for more impact.

“The roadmap for GOOD-COP will see us adding even more depth to the platform with performance metrics, as well as the addition of more projects, enabling us to delve into the data to create powerful insights for users interested in tackling climate change and biodiversity loss through voluntary carbon offsets”.

Murray Collins, chief executive and co-founder of Space Intelligence, said: “Climate
change and biodiversity loss are the twin environmental challenges of our time. As the world’s
leaders and corporations gather in Glasgow to make net zero investment commitments to
address these challenges, there is a rapidly growing need for information on forest carbon
projects in a single platform.

“We’re delighted to have produced GOOD-COP as an atlas for forest carbon projects around the world, and look forward to enhancing the platform in the future”

GOOD-COP – which has been developed with funding from the Scottish Government’s Unlocking Ambition challenge fund – is now live and accessible for free here.