A developer recently unveiled an open-source tool that tracks wildfire risks facing blue carbon projects listed on the Verra registry. The model combines NASA satellite alerts with deforestation trends and scores permanence risk across every registered project. Built in under three weeks using a stack of free tools, it demonstrates how public data can be transformed into actionable climate insights.
A pipeline designed for real-time risk analysis
The creator spent 19 days assembling a pipeline that processes live fire alerts from NASA’s FIRMS system, pairs them with World Bank deforestation data, and outputs a risk score for each project. The dashboard, running on Streamlit, updates automatically as new satellite alerts arrive. All code and data models are open-source, allowing others to fork, test, or extend the system.
Core components include:
- NASA FIRMS API – delivers real-time wildfire alerts with a custom MAP_KEY for authentication
- World Bank API – provides nine years of deforestation indicators
- dbt + DuckDB – handles data transformation, validation, and testing
- GitHub Actions – runs continuous integration on every code push
- Streamlit – deploys an interactive dashboard that visualizes risk scores by project
The pipeline avoids expensive cloud services by relying on lightweight, open tools. DuckDB processes the data in-memory, while dbt enforces data quality checks before results reach the dashboard.
Overcoming tricky data integration hurdles
Merging disparate data sources proved the biggest challenge. Project IDs in the Verra registry are numeric, while Berkeley’s VCS identifiers use formats like “VCS1234.” The developer wrote custom string parsing logic to align these IDs and ensure accurate joins. Two API endpoints also changed mid-project: the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators moved to a new URL, and NASA’s FIRMS authentication swapped from bearer tokens to MAP_KEYs. These adjustments required iterative debugging and versioned configuration.
Another hurdle was handling the volume of satellite alerts. FIRMS delivers thousands of daily fire detections globally. The team implemented a spatial join to filter alerts within project boundaries, reducing the dataset size before scoring. This optimization kept runtime under a minute while maintaining geographic precision.
Use cases for auditors, investors, and regulators
Investors in blue carbon credits can now assess wildfire exposure before purchasing offsets. Auditors can validate permanence claims by cross-referencing risk scores with project documentation. Regulators may use the model to prioritize on-site inspections in high-risk regions. The transparency of open code and public data sources also strengthens trust in carbon market claims.
The dashboard displays risk scores on an interactive map, with filters for project type, region, and risk threshold. Users can drill down into individual projects to view historical fire events, deforestation trends, and projected permanence scores. All data and methodology are documented in the GitHub repository, inviting peer review and contributions.
The future of open-source climate risk tools
This project highlights how freely available satellite data can be harnessed to build critical infrastructure for carbon markets. As wildfire seasons intensify, tools like this become essential for maintaining the integrity of blue carbon projects. The developer invites contributions to expand coverage to mangroves, peatlands, and other blue carbon ecosystems. Future work may include adding climate projection layers and integrating additional data sources like Copernicus or Sentinel satellites.
AI summary
Ücretsiz bir karbon kredi risk modeli oluşturmak için NASA uydu verilerini, dbt ve Streamlit’ı birleştirin. Açık kaynaklı yaklaşım ve karşılaşılan teknik zorluklar hakkında detaylı bilgi alın.
