As a coalition member, SLU receives annual research funding, with $409,649 awarded in the first year
ST. LOUIS – Saint Louis University’s Remote Sensing Lab is now a coalition member of Climate TRACE, a global coalition focused on tracking greenhouse gas emissions, building the world’s largest and most comprehensive emissions inventory to provide accurate and transparent data. Climate TRACE is a non-profit coalition of organizations building a timely, open, and accessible inventory of exactly where greenhouse gas emissions are coming from.
Climate TRACE coalition members harness satellite imagery and other forms of remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and collective data science expertise to track human-caused GHG emissions. Its emissions inventory is the world’s first comprehensive accounting of GHG emissions based primarily on direct, independent observation.
SLU’s Remote Sensing Lab, run by Vasit Sagan, Ph.D., professor of geospatial science, has received a $409,649 grant for the first year to become the sector lead for Climate TRACE’s pastures and support the Coalition with mapping cattle operations globally.
Former Vice President Al Gore and Vasit Sagan, Ph.D. at Climate TRACE's annual meeting. Submitted photo
“SLU’s membership in the Climate TRACE coalition positions the University at the forefront of global greenhouse gas monitoring by leveraging its expertise in remote sensing and GeoAI. Through this partnership, SLU joins a worldwide network of universities, scientists, and AI practitioners while contributing its unique strengths in mapping cattle operations, manure management, and facility-level methane and nitrous oxide emissions,” said Sagan. “This collaboration enhances the transparency and accuracy of emissions reporting, expands SLU’s influence on climate policy and accountability, and ensures its research delivers actionable insights for targeted mitigation strategies at local, national, and global scales.”
SLU’s team will be responsible for enhancing global mapping of pasture areas that support cattle, along with detecting large-scale feedlot operations in South Asia, Latin America, and Africa—regions that remain major gaps in national reporting and emissions inventories.
Climate TRACE identifies the most significant gaps in emissions reporting within current greenhouse gas inventories and develops models to estimate those emissions gaps. Climate TRACE emissions data is generated on a sector-by-sector basis by the relevant Climate TRACE sector leads and additional contributing organizations with which they collaborate.
“Manure ponds are a critical blind spot in global greenhouse gas accounting. These large anaerobic waste lagoons are persistent sources of methane (CH₄) and episodic emitters of nitrous oxide (N₂O), yet they remain largely undetected and under-reported in national and international inventories,” Sagan said. “Current systems rely on livestock population counts and country-level emission factors, which mask facility-scale hot spots and management practices. By advancing spatially explicit detection of manure ponds, SLU’s researchers aim to improve transparency, enable accurate attribution of emissions, and support more effective mitigation strategies in livestock management.”
The Remote Sensing Lab at Saint Louis University advances geospatial science through machine learning and AI–driven analysis of multi-scale remote sensing data to tackle pressing challenges in food and water security, environmental change, and socio-ecological resilience. Its research combines geospatial computer vision, digital twins, and photogrammetry, and sensor fusion—integrating satellite, UAV, and field-based hyperspectral, multispectral, thermal, and LiDAR measurements—to monitor agriculture, ecosystems, and land-use dynamics.
Active projects span quantum farming and precision agriculture, remote sensing–based nitrogen prescriptions to boost crop productivity, early detection of plant diseases, identification of biological and chemical stressors, carbon accounting, permafrost material chemistry, and development of a global InSAR accuracy model. Supported by high-performance computing and advanced imaging systems, the lab delivers innovative GeoAI solutions that drive sustainable agriculture, strengthen food security, and deepen understanding of land–water–climate interactions.
SLU's involvement with Climate TRACE began in Fall 2024, followed by Sagan and Derek Tesser, Ph.D., a research scientist in the Remote Sensing Lab, traveling to New York City to participate in Climate TRACE's annual meeting, led by former Vice President Al Gore.
Their engagement at the meeting paved the way for Saint Louis University’s formal membership in the Coalition, positioning SLU to contribute its expertise in remote sensing and GeoAI to advance transparent, facility-level greenhouse gas monitoring worldwide.
In its first-year effort, the Remote Sensing Lab will develop a robust GeoAI framework to map global cattle operations and manure management systems by integrating remote sensing, knowledge graphs, and foundation AI models. This work will generate facility-level methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions data from cattle operations worldwide, along with initial estimates of cattle population density and management practices across global grasslands.
The Remote Sensing Lab is staffed by 12 research scientists, data scientists, postdocs, and software engineers from SLU’s School of Science and Engineering, as well as 10 graduate students.
Climate TRACE members include Carbon Yield, Duke University, Earth Genome and Johns Hopkins APL, among others.
About Saint Louis University
Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic research institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 15,300 students a rigorous, transformative education that challenges and prepares them to make the world a better place. As a nationally recognized leader in research and innovation, SLU is an R1 research university, advancing groundbreaking, life-changing discoveries that promote the greater good.
