A new wave of satellites are going to start to orbit the earth. Nothing special right? Wrong. According to Bloomberg, these new satellites will now be able to pinpoint producers of greenhouse gases. Even to an exact individual leak at an oil rig, single well, or pipeline. Governments and companies have or are starting to plan to launch these satellites. They will be used to measure concentrations of heat trapping gases such as methane which is blamed for about one quarter of man-made global warming. As to why suddenly, governments and companies are looking to track contributors to climate change. This would include other nations, industries, companies and even individual facilities.

“Space-based technologies are allowing us for the first time to quickly and cheaply measure greenhouse gases,” said Mark Brownstein, a senior vice president at Environmental Defense Fund, which plans to launch its MethaneSAT in 2021. “Oftentimes both government and industry are not fully aware of the magnitude of the opportunity to cut emissions. With that data, they can take action.”

The information may reinforce shareholder pressure on companies to disclose and reduce emissions. If that’s the case, I can think nothing ill of the news. There is a corporate responsibility that companies should be held accountable for. I mean, we’re all living on the Earth, so we should probably take care of it guys. With this, governmental bodies and companies can hold those accountable, and take the right actions. Hopefully though, this doesn’t get exploited, as such is things with humanity.

However, tracking these greenhouse gases by satellite, is still in the planning stage. Implementation of it, might take awhile, but at least we’re doing something.