ERM, the world’s largest pure play sustainability consultancy, has announced a new partnership with Planet Labs PBC, the leading provider of global near-daily satellite imagery and earth data with the highest frequency satellite data commercially available. ERM has been a customer of Planet since 2019 and through this new agreement, will expand the imagery use cases, applications, and reporting capabilities for clients.

Planet’s satellite imagery has transformed earth observation, allowing organizations to derive insights at the daily pace of change on earth. When combined with ERM’s expert analysis, Planet data can be translated into actionable information to address business’ operational and sustainability goals.

By linking satellite imagery and insights, the partnership between ERM and Planet accelerates data driven decision-making to inform corporate sustainability strategies, management systems and disclosure.

Planet and ERM’s joint capabilities can be applied to a multitude of projects including methane emissions monitoring, Nature-Based Solutions planning, climate risk analysis, and impact assessment for capital projects. Current and future use cases include:

1) Methane emissions monitoring: ERM plans to leverage Planet’s future satellites, Tanager, to monitor methane emissions – providing top-down direct measurement in compliance with OGMP2.0 and more direct emissions quantification.

2) Natural Climate / Nature-Based Solutions: ERM works with Planet imagery to identify optimal locations, determine viability, and monitor Nature-Based Solutions implementation for carbon offsets and removal.

3) Biodiversity & nature assessments: Planet imagery is integral to evaluating the state of nature and will support ERM’s work measuring biodiversity related impacts from corporate assets and supply chains, as part of voluntary reporting for Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and the upcoming Task Force on Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).

4) Sustainable capital project development: ERM uses Planet imagery to optimize project location and design by measuring potential impacts on society and the environment, in line with International Finance Corporation (IFC) standards.

5) Compliance tracking for new construction: Monitoring construction crews to ensure avoidance of sensitive and protected landscapes is made possible using Planet’s near real-time imagery and ERM’s expertise integrating insights from satellite monitoring for compliance tracking and strategic decision-making.

Doug Park, Partner, Geospatial & Climate Solutions at ERM said: “As businesses face the challenge of integrating sustainability into their strategy and operations, there is a growing need to capture and better understand locational information relating to the organization’s assets, supply chains and markets.

“From climate risk and nature assessment to oversight and market intelligence, Planet harnesses invaluable data that businesses and their stakeholders are seeking. Its cutting-edge technology, combined with ERM’s advanced remote sensing expertise and sustainability advisory capabilities, will enhance our ability to deliver impactful outcomes for our clients.”

Kushal Mashru, Head of Strategic Partnerships at ERM said: “This partnership with Planet is an exciting addition to ERM’s expanding ecosystem. Planet’s satellite imagery technology has transformed the earth observation industry, helping organizations across sectors to make smarter, data-driven decisions.

“We look forward to working with Planet to generate insights that will help our clients to evolve and respond to increasingly complex sustainability challenges.”

“ERM has been a valued Planet customer for a few years and we are now excited to expand our relationship into a formal partnership. We expect them to become a strong growth partner,” said Jen Doogan, Director, Partnerships (AMER) at Planet. “By joining our partner ecosystem Planet Orbit, ERM can provide customers across industries with imagery solutions, critical insights regarding environmental impact, and robust reporting capabilities.”

About ERM

ERM is the business of sustainability.

As the largest global pure play sustainability consultancy, ERM partners with the world’s leading organizations, creating innovative solutions to sustainability challenges and unlocking commercial opportunities that meet the needs of today while preserving opportunities for future generations.

ERM’s diverse team of 7,500+ world-class experts in over 170 offices across 39 countries supports clients across the breadth of their organizations to operationalize sustainability. Through ERM’s deep technical expertise, clients are well-positioned to address their environmental, health, safety, risk, and social issues. ERM calls this capability its “boots to boardroom” approach - a comprehensive service model that allows ERM to develop strategic and technical solutions that advance objectives on the ground or at the executive level.