Stephane Germain is the founder and chief executive officer of satellite monitoring company GHGSat, which has about 50 employees at its headquarters in Montreal as well as an office in Calgary.In this time of uncertainty, one of the few things Stephane Germain knows for sure is that when the COVID-19 crisis subsides, the world will still need to fight climate change. So, with some adjustments, his satellite monitoring company GHGSat Inc.
“Nobody thought we could do it. But then we launched our demonstration satellite … and we’ve been proving that we can,” Mr. Germain says. The COVID-19 crisis forced the company to postpone a scheduled satellite launch which, in turn, pushes back the data-gathering. But Mr. Germain says GHGSat is ready to resume its aggressive program when the public-health crisis subsides.“We are fortunate that our team is healthy and has transitioned admirably well to working from home,” Mr. Germain says.
Customers and suppliers are resilient and patient, too, Mr. Germain says. Even after the COVID-19 crisis is over, he says industries and governments will still need to monitor emissions more accurately 2 at competitive prices – if the world is to make progress against climate change. “The classic satellites being launched today … are the size of school buses. We think we can do this with a satellite that’s the size of a microwave oven,” Mr. Germain says.
“The technology is now getting to the point where it can see important emission ‘leaks’ that companies can fix; before, they would have to drive around with a camera to look for those spots,” he says.