The ECMWF-led CO2 Human Emissions project (CHE) kicks off

Date

In order to enable informed decision-making processes for greenhouse gas emission reductions, and to monitor policy effectiveness, a comprehensive global greenhouse gas observing system is required. Monitoring carbon dioxide (CO2) has drawn most attention, due to its dominant role in climate change and the strong human hand in its emissions.

In 2015, the European Commission considered a European capacity for monitoring anthropogenic CO2 emissions and concluded that a comprehensive observing system should be based on a combination of space-borne observations and ground-based monitoring networks.

The observing system must allow us to separate the impact of anthropogenic emissions from the effect of the complex natural carbon cycle, both affect atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

The CHE project will act as a bridge between the European Commission (including its CO2 Task Forces), space agencies and related industries, the CO2 science community, and the Copernicus Services. The objective is to bring together relevant expertise to develop the science and scope out the necessary architecture for a European CO2 monitoring capacity.

The project started in October 2017, bringing together a consortium of 22 European partners, and will last for over three years.

For more information, please visit the project website: https://www.che-project.eu/