Green Cover
Measures vegetated surface area and annual green cover change using Sentinel-2 satellite data.
availability
On Demand
Now
indicator tier
Gold
unit
Fraction / %
spatial resolution
10m
measurement frequency
Annual
measurement level
Plot
historic data availability
2018 - 2025
Forescast data availability
N/A
applicable crop types
All
applicable land type
No items found.
compliance frameworks
TNFD, SBTN, CSRD (ESRS E4), Nature Positive Initiative (NPI)
description
This indicator measures the proportion of an area of interest covered by vegetation and tracks how that green cover changes over time. It classifies pixels as vegetated or non-vegetated using an NDVI threshold, then reports annual green cover fraction and vegetation gain or loss between years. It is useful for urban green space accounting, detecting clearing or construction-related vegetation loss, and long-term vegetation change monitoring for ESG disclosures.
methodology
Quantifies the spatial extent of vegetated surface within an AOI using Sentinel-2 L2A imagery. After cloud masking and NDVI calculation, a vegetation threshold is applied the yearly composite to classify pixels as vegetated or non-vegetated. This is used to calculate green cover fraction and detect annual vegetation gain or loss.
validation
Green Cover uses the same Sentinel-2 L2A source data as the Vegetation Condition model. It inherits the NDVI model’s main uncertainty sources, including georeferencing uncertainty, atmospheric correction residuals, adjacency effects, and potential gaps in cloud-free coverage.
model limitations
Green Cover is sensitive to the selected NDVI threshold. Low-density or seasonally sparse vegetation may be inconsistently classified, and annual composites can reflect phenological variability or uneven cloud-free coverage rather than true land cover change. At 10 m resolution, narrow features such as hedgerows, street trees, and green roofs may be underrepresented.
Get started
Begin your journey today.
