A remote, satellite-powered tool for carbon footprint monitoring has won best product innovation of the year.

CarbonSpace provide a platform to track the carbon footprint of any land-use type, including forests, croplands, wetlands and grasslands. It claims a 90% cost-reduction in comparison to traditional monitoring methods, such as manual methods or on-site measurements.

The platform's AI technology is used for two main purposes: tracking carbon sequestration for nature-based solutions and verification of carbon offsets, as well as supply chain carbon footprint monitoring for the companies in the food & forestry sectors.

Registered in Dublin, CarbonSpace raised €1 million in seed round fundraising from European investors, including Yield Lab and Rockstart.

Oleg Demidov, CEO and co-founder of CarbonSpace, said: "We work with corporates who may have millions of hectares in their supply chain – we believe that these companies could be the drivers of major change. [For example,] we work with companies managing tropical commodities, like palm oil, coffee and cocoa to incentivise them to reach their net-zero or science-based targets."

Commenting on carbon offsets, Demidov said: "I would say 80% of carbon offset projects currently do not deliver on what they promised... it may not even be the fault of the of the project developer – there could be a forest fire, for example, and the developer will only realise it after several months.

"Right now, [carbon project] audits may happen once every two to five years. So basically, we have huge amounts of time where there is no monitoring. Satellite technology can provide peer monitoring on a monthly basis, reducing the risks for both buyers and project developers of carbon offsets."