Bringing young innovators together can yield innovative solutions to complex and urgent problems. At a recent Hackathon, a challenge to come up with ways to measure the carbon capture and storage of forests and the development of carbon credits resulted in the development of a user-friendly web platform that will provide more data to tackle pressing environmental issues.

At this tenth edition of the Annual Talent Land Hackathon, which took place from July 20 to 23 2022, in Guadalajara, Mexico, thousands of young innovators put their ideas and knowledge about Artificial Intelligence, cloud-based technology and more to use in support of climate action.

In support of SDG 13 (Climate Action), PARIS21 sponsored an innovation challenge aiming to contribute to the measurement of carbon capture and storage in forests and to the development of carbon credits. The challenge was co-ordinated on the ground by the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO) of Guadalajara.

Over two days and nights 114 participants split into 14 teams raced against the clock to develop a platform and tools to measure the capture and storage of carbon in small forests and agricultural crops. On the way, they were mentored by various experts in tech, environment, remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems.

A five-member jury selected the winning team Alquimia, whose members received a prize of USD 2,500. The winners, an environmental engineer and two experts in mathematical models, developed the prototype of an interactive and user-friendly web platform helping to identify forested areas that should be conserved and to measure the carbon these areas capture. The platform also stores and facilitates access to the carbon credits market. This was a two-step process using Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing with satellite images and machine learning and conducting a multivariate analysis with several variables to determine carbon capture.