Food giant Nestlé has announced that it is commencing a pilot for Airbus's new Pléiades Neo satellites to monitor its reforestation efforts.
Nestlé will use the high-resolution images generated by this technology to ensure that the trees it has planted in sourcing regions continue to thrive over the long term.
The initiative will help the company gain a clearer understanding of the amount of carbon it has removed from the atmosphere through its Global Reforestation Programme – a part of its 2050 net zero emissions ambition.
Magdi Batato, Nestlé's executive vice-president and head of operations said, "Forests are often called nature-based solutions because we use nature as a solution to help reduce our emissions. Growing trees close to our sourcing locations is an essential part of our climate roadmap alongside decarbonising our operations and supply chain.
"Through our Global Reforestation Programme, we aim to plant and grow 200 million trees in our supply chains and sourcing landscapes by 2030. Our goal is to remove two million tonnes of CO2e through these projects."
Pléiades Neo Satellites
Initially, the new technology will be tested in the Ranong and Chumphon provinces of southern Thailand, where a reforestation project has been ongoing since last year.
Pléiades Neo satellites will monitor more than 150,000 shade trees in farms from where Nestlé sources its coffee, over a 20-year period, the company noted.
Shade trees help prevent coffee's over-exposure to the sun, and increase yield and productivity in the long term, while removing carbon from the atmosphere.
The outcome of this pilot will determine whether Nestlé will expand the use of this technology to other locations around the world.
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'Perfect For Replanting Projects'
Karen Florschütz, executive vice-president and head of Connected Intelligence at Airbus said, "Pléiades Neo, with its 30cm resolution, highest acquisition capacity and rich spectral configuration, is perfectly suited to follow replanting projects over large and remote areas.
"We are proud of this new cooperation with Nestlé and want to keep pioneering the development of innovative solutions to address climate change."
Since 2016, Nestlé has been using the Airbus and Earthworm Starling solution to assess the risk of deforestation near its sourcing locations.
With Pléiades Neo, the food giant is upscaling its monitoring service.
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