Climate polluters may be allowed to stop reporting their emissions. That doesn’t mean they can hide them.  » Yale Climate Connections

The Trump administration has done many favors for the fossil fuel industry. In addition to allowing more pollution from coal and gas power plants and derailing clean energy, the administration is taking steps to keep the public from even knowing how much climate-warming greenhouse gases – like carbon dioxide and methane – are being emitted.

Currently, the federal government requires companies to measure their output of heat-trapping pollution and report it to the EPA. But in a March 2025 press release, the EPA said that reporting greenhouse gases is burdensome, and EPA Administrator Lee Zelden said the requirements to document climate-warming pollution hurt “the ability to achieve the American dream.” So the EPA may eventually allow facilities like power plants or oil refineries to stop reporting how much climate pollution they’re emitting. 

But polluters still won’t be able to escape scrutiny. 

At this very moment, instruments on board satellites, airplanes, and the International Space Station are steadfastly measuring plumes of methane and carbon dioxide drifting from power plants, refineries, and pipelines. These programs have been operating for years but aren’t widely known. This article is the first in a series that will showcase the instruments, highlight their top-level findings, and illustrate how anyone can use these tools to become a climate sleuth.

Seeing CO2 and methane from air and space

As sunlight bounces off Earth’s surface and heads back out to space, some of its energy gets trapped in the atmosphere by climate-warming greenhouse gases. Methane, carbon dioxide, and other gases each absorb different wavelengths of light. Instruments on aircraft or in space can measure the exact wavelengths of light coming upward through the atmosphere. The specific fingerprint of reflected light can tell observers which gases are present and in what quantities. 

Measuring greenhouse gases from above brings a multitude of benefits. These independent measurements don’t rely on reporting from the corporations that are causing the pollution in the first place. Satellites can see the whole world and can reveal pollution sources even in far-flung locales that may not report their emissions. Aircraft can fly localized spot-checks to find leaks and equipment malfunctions that can be fixed. Companies can use this data to take stock of their emissions and the efficiency of their operations. 

Much of the data is free and available to the public, and in some cases, it’s viewable through user-friendly mapping tools. Journalists and community members can use this data to easily learn about sources of pollution. Anyone with access to the internet can monitor emissions sources all around the world.

Some of these instruments are run by government agencies like NASA. Others are privately owned and operated. Private measurements of greenhouse gases have become especially important in the Trump era because they can’t be canceled by an executive order or budget cut.

Amid seemingly endless bad news, these scientific missions offer a ray of hope that accountability can’t be erased. Information is empowering, and even more so when it’s key to an urgent problem. 

Carbon Mapper puts data from multiple instruments in one place

Carbon Mapper is a nonprofit organization that aims to make emissions data easily accessible so it can help drive action to reduce climate pollution. The group brings together funding from philanthropists with engineering from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planet Labs, and others. (Full disclosure: The author of this article is a contractor with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.) Carbon Mapper operates its own satellite with a second one in development.

Carbon Mapper’s data portal combines data from five different sources into a user-friendly mapping tool that displays plumes of CO2 and methane in intricate detail. The map is intuitive to use and offers a satisfying level of detail for those who want to drill down into the specifics. 

Two of the data sources used in the Carbon Mapper data portal are from NASA. To date, those missions are not slated to be cut, but the uncertainty around federally funded science underscores the importance of programs that are outside the government.

Climate TRACE uses satellite imagery plus AI to estimate emissions

Climate TRACE takes an entirely different approach to tracking greenhouse gases. The team uses satellite imagery plus AI models to estimate emissions based on visual cues. For example, the amount of water vapor coming from a coal power plant is an indicator of how much electricity the plant is generating. From there, analysts use publicly available information about the power plant to estimate the emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. In addition to power plants, this tool covers sectors like mining, agriculture, transportation, buildings, and land use change.

Climate TRACE features a user-friendly emissions map with options to look up specific locations and sectors. 

The data for the tool comes from both government-owned and privately owned satellites. 

NASA’s EMIT finds methane super emitters and leaky oil and gas operations

EMIT is a NASA instrument on the International Space Station that was originally designed to measure how wind-borne dust might warm or cool the climate. But it also turns out to be really good at finding methane. Within its first few months of operation, the instrument had found some of the largest releases of methane ever measured. The mission initially pinpointed over 50 super-emitters, many coming from oil and gas operations or landfills. The list of methane plumes has only expanded since then.

Investigative journalists at Bloomberg Green used EMIT imagery to find large methane leaks coming from oil and gas operations in Texas and New Mexico. In one case, Exxon had violated state law by failing to promptly report a leak. Bloomberg contacted Exxon and showed them the image from EMIT, and then Exxon filed a (late) report and fixed the leak. This example shows the power of publicly available data to help shine a light on highly polluting oil and gas operations and ultimately, to stop leaks.

NASA recently extended EMIT’s mission and shifted the mission’s focus from mineral dust to methane. The results are free and open to the public in NASA’s EMIT Open Data Portal. The European Space Agency has a similar program with its Sentinel-5P satellite. Their Methane Hotspot Explorer adds new data every week, which is more frequent than EMIT.

Meet the instruments and programs

Private sector, U.S.-based
Tanager-1 – Carbon Mapper CoalitionMeasures methane and CO2Launched in August 2024This satellite was designed and built by Planet Labs with an instrument designed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It was funded by philanthropists as part of a public-private coalition. A second satellite is in the works.	(Image credit: Planet Labs PBC)
Global Airborne Observatory – Arizona State University and the Asner Lab.Measures methane and CO2Initially deployed in 2006This flying laboratory contains a suite of instruments used for ecosystem research, conservation efforts, and greenhouse gas detection. Unlike satellites, aircraft can be deployed to specific locations to investigate potential pollution sources.	(Image credit: ASU Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science)
MethaneSat – Environmental Defense FundMeasured methane and CO2Launched in March 2024This satellite operated for about one year before permanently losing communications with ground controllers.See the map-based data collected and analyzed so far.
Orbital Sidekick – This private company operates a fleet of satellites to help companies pinpoint, measure, and understand their own emissions.	(Image credit: Orbital Sidekick)
U.S. government
NASA EMIT – Measures methane and CO2. Launched in July 2022, EMIT is an instrument on board the International Space Station. Though its original mission was primarily focused on measuring mineral dust, the mission was recently extended for three years with a focus on methane.	(Image credit NASA)
NASA AVIRIS – Measures methane and CO2In service since 1989AVIRIS is a type of instrument (Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer) rather than a specific aircraft. To date, NASA has flown three different AVIRIS-equipped airplanes. They have been used to find methane leaks in California, the Permian Basin, the Gulf of Mexico, and elsewhere. AVIRIS-3 is the most recent version of the aircraft, and it uses the same instrument as NASA’s EMIT.	(Image credit: NASA JPL)
NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatories – Measures CO2. OCO-2 satellite launched in 2014. OCO-3 instrument on the International Space Station, installed in 2019. NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatories measure total CO2, not point sources. The OCO-2 satellite made the first space-based, “top-down” measurements of net carbon emissions for over 100 different countries. The OCO missions are in danger of being prematurely terminated by the Trump administration.	(Image credit: NASA JPL)
U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center – This isn’t a specific instrument, but it’s a useful compilation of data and maps from NOAA, NASA, and other government programs. Their data catalog is a useful repository for analysts, developers, and those wanting a specific data product.
International
GHG Sat – This international program uses 12 commercial satellites plus a methane-detecting airplane for a suite of greenhouse gas products. This company is geared toward serving corporations, governments, and sustainable finance managers who need high-resolution, localized data. They offer a basic free account.
Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite – The European Space Agency’s Sentinel 5P satellite maps methane across the entire globe every day. Researchers are combining data from several Sentinel satellites to produce weekly data showing methane super emitters. These are most easily viewed in the Methane Hotspot Explorer.	(Image credit: ESA)
GOSAT and GOSAT-2 – These Japanese satellites measure methane and CO2. GOSAT launched in 2006, followed by GOSAT-2 in 2018. A third satellite, GOSAT-GW, launched in June 2025 and is undergoing initial calibration to verify proper operation of its instruments. It’s expected to begin delivering data later this year.	(Image credit: JAXA)