GrowCarbon’s AI-driven platform pioneers near-real-time urban environmental monitoring in the Middle East

GrowCarbon, a start-up based out of Dubai focusing on environmental intelligence, has rolled out a new AI-powered platform in the Middle East. The company claims that this system provides ongoing measurement and verification of trees, air quality, and carbon assets across urban areas. As reported by Zawya, the platform combines satellite images, street-level photos, land-use data, and traffic information to create digital replicas, or “twins”, of individual trees and entire neighborhoods. This innovative approach enables modeling of air pollutants and specific tree species at meter-scale accuracy, all without the need for sensors.

The firm presents this platform as a solution to a notable gap in how natural assets are integrated into urban planning and climate finance. “As sustainability goals shift from just commitments to actual accountability,” said Hamzeh Abueqap, GrowCarbon’s Founder and CEO, “we need tools that measure environmental performance based on real operations, not just a one-time snapshot.” Essentially, the company sees this product as a way to embed natural systems into everyday infrastructure decisions by offering continuous monitoring, reporting, and verification, what folks in the industry refer to as MRV.

GrowCarbon states that it’s registered with Verra, the widely-used voluntary carbon standard in carbon markets. They claim this registration allows project developers and landowners to structure and manage carbon projects aligned with Verra guidelines. This includes issuing credits across decentralized forestry networks, which could involve trees spread throughout urban areas and planned communities rather than being confined to traditional plantations. Moreover, their platform supposedly reduces the time needed for assessments and lowers reliance on sporadic field surveys, since it provides near-real-time insights once set up.

Operational progress appears central to GrowCarbon’s pitch. The Zawya article notes that the firm has already mapped more than 10 million trees worldwide over the past six months, and new city-scale projects can be activated in just days. Looking ahead, it envisions mapping a trillion trees globally and creating a comprehensive digital twin of the planet’s environment.

The competitive landscape in environmental intelligence and carbon accounting is pretty crowded, with several players offering similar AI and remote sensing solutions. According to profiles on F6S, GrowCarbon’s system combines satellite and street imagery with weather data and computer vision algorithms to monitor CO2 emissions and measure how much carbon trees are sequestering, all in real time. This can help with urban planning, ESG reporting, and similar efforts. Other regional and international companies are positioning themselves along similar lines. For instance, Carbmee markets enterprise software that handles carbon accounting and real-time environmental data, claiming to manage large portfolios of emissions. Cambridge Carbon, along with newer Dubai-based startups in the environmental commodities space, are building capabilities like drone-enabled monitoring, forest management tools, and market infrastructure that complement these efforts.

For cities and developers in the UAE and broader Gulf area, where rapid urban expansion meets ambitious net-zero targets, tools that can provide scalable, sensor-free MRV are potentially very advantageous. Governments and financiers increasingly want environmental data to be quantifiable and auditable throughout project lifecycles. GrowCarbon asserts that its platform offers detailed, tree-level estimates of carbon sequestration and air quality maps covering ten different gases at high resolution. This could be useful for supporting sustainability-linked financing or urban nature-based solutions programs.

Of course, there are still some important questions about how these tools are implemented and governed. Models based on remote sensing and AI need to be validated on the ground in order to meet the rigorous standards of carbon markets and regulatory bodies. While Verra registration indicates alignment with market standards, it doesn’t automatically guarantee acceptance by all buyers or regulators. Usually, participants and auditors demand clear documentation of the models, independent validation, and periodic field checks, especially when credits are tied to individual trees that may be on private or public land.

Data privacy and sovereignty are also key considerations, especially in urban settings. Since the platform relies on street-level images and traffic data, questions come up about where that imagery comes from, licensing issues, and consent, particularly when projects are in dense city centers. Further, integrating data with city assets, utilities, and planning systems will determine how smoothly digital twins can translate into concrete operational changes.

Recently, GrowCarbon has been active in the sustainability awards circuit. Reports on F6S note that the founder applied for the Zayed Sustainability Prize 2025, signaling an interest in gaining regional recognition and forging partnerships that could speed up deployment across the Gulf.

For stakeholders involved in climate tech in the UAE, GrowCarbon’s approach stands out because it combines detailed tree-level analytics, air quality mapping, and a clear pathway to carbon markets, all integrated into a single platform. It’s part of an expanding ecosystem of firms working on digitized MRV and infrastructure for environmental commodities. The real test now will be their ability to show model robustness through independent validation, accomplish third-party verification, and work with municipal systems for procurement and finance.

If GrowCarbon can produce results that withstand independent review, with transparent workflows that satisfy developers, city planners, and auditors alike, it might be able to help mainstream nature-based assets within urban infrastructure projects. Conversely, if it falls short on these fronts, it could become just another promising technology that struggles with slow adoption due to verification or governance hurdles. For now, their Verra registration and growing deployment footprint position them as a key player bridging nature-based solutions, climate finance, and city planning in a region rapidly scaling both its development and climate ambitions.

Source: Noah Wire Services