Tesla is joining the Climate Trace program — co-founded by Al Gore — to increase the tracking of global pollution.
By tracking pollution produced by countries and companies around the world, Climate Trace intends to incentivize groups to lower their carbon footprint to the point of net zero.
"We make meaningful climate action faster and easier by harnessing technology to track greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with unprecedented detail and speed, delivering information that is relevant to all parties working to achieve net-zero global emissions," the company's "about" page says on its website.
"As the world's largest producer of electric vehicles, Tesla is accelerating the world's transition to a sustainable energy economy," Climate Trace wrote, per Electrek. "As part of its responsible sourcing strategy, Tesla is collaborating with Climate Trace to validate primary emissions data from its suppliers of steel and aluminum and to fill gaps where primary data are not yet available."
Other automakers, like General Motors and Polestar, are also participating in the program, Electrek reports.
Climate Trace uses AI and machine learning to analyze "90 trillion bytes of data from more than 300 satellites, more than 11,000 sensors" and has worked since 2020 to end the era of self-reported pollution stats to create greater transparency around the world, per its website.
"Government officials, scientists, investors, executives, and activists need better data to support the creation of policies, programs, and campaigns aimed at limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C [2.7 degrees Fahrenheit] as agreed to under the Paris Climate Agreement," the site reads.
Climate Trace will soon release detailed inventories multiple times per year to keep the world informed about where pollution is (and isn't) coming from.
"Climate Trace is really the only independent comprehensive source of accurate data on which a stocktake can be made," Gore said last year.
Other promising research projects are also helping pave the way toward a cleaner future, including a new study on landfill pollution and atmosphere-cleaning basalt projects.
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