Data ReFined #32: Governance and Regulation in the Voluntary Carbon Markets, Hurricane Forecast, Hyperlocal Weather Data

The Newsletter about Climate Data, Regenerative Finance, and Climate Risk ⛅

Thanks for tuning in to another edition of dClimate's biweekly newsletter. This issue covers our recent in-depth webinar about carbon markets, a comprehensive overview of the regenerative finance (ReFi) sector, the National Weather Service's 2024 hurricane forecast, WeatherXM's raising $7.7m in a Series A, and several other important news stories.

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Industry News

Global Governance and Regulation in the VCM

Last week, we hosted a distinguished expert panel for a webinar to discuss how the Paris Agreement and the growing need for global governance and regulation shape voluntary carbon initiatives and natural capital investments.

Watch the timestamped recording here:

On a related note, we published a new blog post about the importance and challenges of forest preservation efforts in the context of voluntary carbon offset initiatives like REDD+. We cover issues such as negative publicity, complexity in implementation, funding difficulties, and the need for robust monitoring and verification systems.

Read the write-up below:

Restoring Confidence in Forest Preservation Efforts

Forests play a vital role in our planet’s health, acting as carbon sinks, biodiversity havens, and natural and financial resources for local communities. Voluntary carbon offset initiatives, particularly forest preservation projects and other reduced emissions from degradation and deforestation (REDD+) initiatives, are crucial tools in the fight for net-zero emissions.

dClimatedClimate

An Overview of Regenerative Finance

The latest episode of the ReFi Podcast explores the expanding regenerative finance sector, offering a comprehensive overview of a wide range of projects and companies. The show covers initiatives in climate data, carbon markets, marketplaces, dMRV solutions, and innovative funding methods for solar energy projects.

Listen to this episode below (or find it in your favorite podcast app):

Afforestation Projects in Germany

Open Forest Protocol (OFP) recently published an in-depth blog post about Plant-My-Tree. This organization has successfully planted over 2 million trees across over 100 sites in Germany and Serbia, leveraging the OFP stack to issue carbon credits.

Read the story below:

100+ Tree Planting Sites in Germany: PLANT-MY-TREE®

2024 Hurricane Forecast

The National Weather Service predicts an above-normal 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Factors driving this forecast include near-record warm ocean temperatures, La Niña conditions, reduced wind shear, and a strong West African monsoon.

Find more details in the article below:

NOAA predicts above-normal 2024 Atlantic hurricane season

La Nina and warmer-than-average ocean temperatures are major drivers of tropical activity

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration U.S. Department of Commerce

Building Parametric Insurance Markets

dClimate co-founder Sid Jha recently appeared on the SmarterMarkets podcast. Tune in to hear his insights on how parametric insurance can help manage risks associated with changing climate patterns.

Listen to this conversation below (or find it in your favorite podcast app):

Climate Perils and Power Outages

A recent article from Climate Central highlights a significant increase in weather-related power outages in the U.S. since 2000. Severe weather events, including storms and cyclones, are responsible for 83% of major outages, which have doubled in the last decade compared to the previous one.

More information, including various graphs, can be found in the article below:

Weather-related Power Outages Rising | Climate Central

Climate change boosts the frequency and intensity of extreme weather that wreaks havoc on the power grid.

Climate Central

Hyperlocal Weather Data

Climate tech startup WeatherXM has raised $7.7m in a Series A, which will help it scale its decentralized network of weather stations. By utilizing blockchain technologies, network participants are incentivized to collect and share hyperlocal weather data, which can be useful for local municipalities, insurance companies, and agricultural businesses.

Read the press release below:

WeatherXM Raises $7.7M to Become the Largest Weather Network in the World — Press Release

The fundraising round was led by Lightspeed Faction and will be used to advance the network and development of on-chain weather derivatives

WeatherXMPanayotis Vryonis

AI Foundation Model for Weather and Climate

Almost a year after the first announcement, NASA and IBM Research are almost ready to publish Prithvi-weather-climate, an AI foundation model for weather and climate applications. This model, pre-trained on 40 years of data from NASA's MERRA-2, aims to enhance storm tracking, forecasting, and historical analysis. The open-source model will be available later in 2024 via Hugging Face.

Learn more via the article below:

NASA and IBM Research Apply AI to Weather and Climate | Earthdata

NASA and IBM Research used NASA Earth science data to collaboratively develop a weather and climate foundation model.

EarthdataJosh Blumenfeld

New Climate Data via Cubesats

In more NASA-related news, the American space agency is ready to launch two cubesats. The shoebox-sized satellites will gather data on far infrared emissions at the Earth's poles to better understand polar heat loss and improve climate models.

NASA prepares for twin launches of climate science cubesats

NASA is gearing up for back-to-back launches of cubesats designed to provide key data for improving models of the Earth’s climate.

SpaceNewsJeff Foust

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