The European Space Agency has released its most detailed dataset yet on how much carbon is stored in the world’s forests, tracking changes from 2007 to 2022. Built by combining data from multiple Earth-observing satellites, the dataset estimates the carbon held in the woody parts of trees—mainly trunks and branches—across different forest types. While most accurate in areas with up to 400 tonnes of biomass per hectare, it corrects earlier underestimates in high-density forests. A new ESA satellite launched in April 2025 will soon improve these estimates further, using radar designed to penetrate dense forest canopies and fill data gaps in tropical regions like the Amazon and Central Africa.
Image Credits: Sebastian Unrau
