Meet Antoine Rostand, President and CEO at Climate Data Company: Kayrros

Kayrros is a climate data company. We use cutting-edge Earth Observation technology such as radar, satellites and geolocation to measure changes in methane, carbon, moisture, biomass and more.

These deep insights into climate and energy-transition risks help companies and now governments make better, more profitable and sustainable decisions.
 
 

 

What do you think makes this company unique?

 
Large parts of the energy and environmental industries still use quite traditional data gathering methods. There is often a difference between the data and the reality – for example between reserves or levels of production of greenhouse gas emissions and what is reported.

Kayrros cuts through this with precise and comprehensive data analysis. We use A.I. and machine learning and offer our insights to many different sectors in real time.

Our sophisticated analytics tools also help anticipate future challenges: in Ukraine, we could cast a precise spotlight on looming wheat shortages, and at the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdowns we forecast negative oil prices, which was initially greeted with disbelief – until it happened. The applications are limitless.
 

How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?

 
Kayrros has built a reputation on reliability and precision. In the last couple of years, our work has become sector-leading, helping private and public organisations track and verify changes in the environment.

Interest in Earth Observation among scientists and the general public has only grown thanks to judicious investments from governments.

In March we secured €40 million to support our geospatial detection work, which will help businesses and policymakers fulfil their sustainability goals. For instance, we are able to monitor deforestation – as well desertification – and identify methane leaks, measure carbon emissions or assess the quality of carbon offsets.

This enables operators and politicians to better steward natural resources. So this funding is crucial in providing intelligence to the biggest climate actors – those who have the power to change the world for the better, or for the worse.

It will also help us to increase our contribution to the space economy, which is primed to be a vast area for growth and innovation, especially in the satellite market. We use extensively the Sentinel satellites of the European Space Agency, for example, but others are poised for orbit, with a forecasted 6.28% year-over-year growth rate in 2022 alone.
 

What can we hope to see from Kayrros in the future?

 
Kayrros is working on a number of projects to help tackle climate change from different angles. We are providing our data to the most polluting industries and the greenest.

We are working increasingly closely with governments around the world to build resilient policy informed by accurate data, and working with university students to improve the technology solutions available to the next generation.

Our new solar farm tracker surveys the progress of promised solar farms – an important development for nations embracing renewable energy for the first time – and keeps track of the inevitable bottlenecks and delays in the delivery of the many projects currently on the books. We can even build digital 3D reconstructions of their layouts.

The same goes for mines, quarries and mineral stockpiles. This should incentivise constructors and investors in green solutions to meet their own targets – or to start making them.

If the future is going to be the kind worth living in, it’s because Kayrros and other socially-minded and innovative companies like it will have laid the groundwork. There’s more work to be done, and we’ll be doing it.