The Potential of CO2 Satellite Monitoring for Climate Governance

Quality of the data in CO2 emission evaluation plays an important role in implementing climate policies. Developing countries are generally weaker than developed countries in CO2 emission lists (bottom-up) due to their lower data collection capacity. This chapter evaluates the capabilities of CO2 detection satellites as objective, independent, potential, low-cost, and external data sources for monitoring CO2 emissions from human activities. After an overview of all major CO2 satellites, the focus is mainly on GOSAT, GOSAT-2, OCO-2, and OCO-3 satellites. This is due to wider research applications and higher sensitivity of these satellites in measuring entire CO2 column, including near-surface emissions. Studies are reviewed from the perspective of spatial and temporal capability and accuracy of different satellites to understand the current state of applications and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of research methods. In addition, each remote sensing method examines the key challenges and makes suggestions for future progress. CO2 satellite monitoring can be the basis of data collection for the implementation of international climate policies and also can strengthen the countries for applying national rules and regulations.