Japanese insurance giant Sompo is testing a potential risk-management solution based on technology from Israeli startup Momentick to identify and measure greenhouse gas emissions through satellite images of Japanese-owned rigs and gas pipelines located beyond Japan’s maritime borders.

Japan has a growing presence in the energy production field. However, Japanese companies that operate gas rigs and pipelines are subject to fines and sanctions from the governments of the territory in which they operate, such as the United States and Europe, which are tightening regulatory controls over greenhouse gas emissions within their borders.

Sompo, one of Japan’s three biggest insurance companies, is therefore assessing Momentick’s technology to help the Japanese government and Japanese companies cope with greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2018, Sompo set up an innovation center in Tel Aviv, complementing two others in Tokyo and Silicon Valley. The center leads commercial collaborations with Israeli startup companies and is initiating the current collaboration with Momentick, in cooperation with Sompo’s business unit.  

The two companies are currently performing a demonstration of Momentick’s ability to detect emissions of methane, one of the main greenhouse gases, through satellite images.

In this demonstration, Momentick analyzes the amount and locations of methane in the atmosphere with software that uses hyperspectral analysis and algorithms based on satellite images and data from the Greenhouse Gases Observer (GOSAT) satellite, the first satellite in the world dedicated to monitoring carbon dioxide and methane concentrations from space.

Data analysis will be done in cooperation with the Climate Change Observation Research Strategy Office of the Ministry of the Environment and the Satellite Observation Center of the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan.

Results and insights will be provided to Sompo and its subsidiary, Sompo Risk Management, which will jointly investigate the potential for technical verification, service provision and the development of insurance products.

Momentick was founded in 2020 by Daniel Kashmir (CEO), Lev Oren (COO), and Ophir Almog (CSO). The company’s proprietary solution can accurately identify the location and amount of greenhouse gas emissions using purchased satellite images rather than its own satellites.

At present, the company can detect methane gas and within a year it expects to be able to detect carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions.

Momentick can monitor specific facilities/assets (such as factories or rigs); large areas (such as large regions or long pipelines); and companies’ emissions to provide ESG (environmental, social and governance) data.

The company’s target is to provide a smart platform for analyzing emissions mainly for the energy industry, waste management companies, financial companies and insurance companies.

Momentick has raised $7 million in seed financing rounds from investors including Chartered Group Japan and the venture capital fund of Tel Aviv University, TAU Ventures.

Sompo Digital Lab Israel CEO Yinnon Dolev said, “We see this partnership as creating value in areas that affect the environment, in a way that complements our insurance policies. Also, Japan’s joining the global fight against greenhouse gas emissions creates an opportunity for large investments in technologies that support the struggle to improve the quality of the environment and the war against global warming. I am confident that the Japanese market will find that there are quite a few Israeli technology companies that will be able to assist it in this process.”