%Google parent company %Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG / NASDSQ: GOOGL) is launching a project that will collect data about %Methane levels around the world from outer space.
Specifically, Alphabet is backing a new satellite that will orbit 300 miles above the Earth, 15 times per day, and measure methane emissions across the globe.
Methane gas is widely believed by scientists to be a major contributor to global warming because it traps heat within the atmosphere.
A lot of methane is produced by farming and waste disposal. However, Alphabet’s new project will focus on methane emissions from oil and gas plants.
Companies involved in the extraction and refining of oil and natural gas burn methane.
The new project is a collaboration between Alphabet and the Environmental Defense Fund, a non-profit global climate group.
The data captured by the satellites will be processed by Alphabet’s %ArtificialIntelligence (A.I.) tools and used to generate a methane map aimed at identifying methane leaks on oil and gas sites worldwide.
Alphabet said that it plans to make the information about methane available to governments and environmental regulators who are responsible for requiring any changes to industry.
There are currently no international rules pertaining to methane emissions. The European Union has agreed to a set of proposals aimed at reducing them, but nothing is currently enforced.
Methane emissions remain dangerously high. NASA recently said that methane levels in the atmosphere have more than doubled in the last 200 years, and that 60% of it is caused by humans.
The stock of Alphabet has risen 54% in the last 12 months to trade at $145.71 U.S. per share.