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Core API

The Core API is the most commonly used API of Epoch's SCo2-API offering, as it returns sustainability metrics for a single polygon request. The Batch API uses functionalities from the Core API with a wrapper to enable the efficient orchestration of processing large numbers of geometries.

Available Endpoints

The Core API provides the following endpoints for sustainability analysis:

Deforestation Analysis

  • /deforestation_check - Deforestation and forest loss checks to ensure compliance with EUDR and other upcoming deforestation regulations.

Emissions Calculations

  • /biomass_emissions - Plot-level emissions estimates from loss of above-ground biomass (i.e. loss of tree cover) or conversion from native ecosystems to managed agricultural systems. Below-ground biomass is also estimated through a root:shoot ratio applied to the derived above-ground biomass estimates.

  • /non_biomass_emissions - Plot-level emissions estimates from agricultural practices (no/reduced-tillage, cover cropping, crop rotation, fallow and cropping intensity, etc), leveraging the Cool Farm Tool and other emissions factors from databases and peer-reviewed literature.

Carbon Monitoring

  • /luc - Long-term monitoring of restoration efforts or other plot- and landscape-level interventions aiming to sequester carbon in the soil or biomass carbon pools. The benefits of Nature-Based Solutions. Contrary to LUC emissions, which are typically the result of sudden land use conversion, carbon removals require years or decades of monitoring, which this capability supports.

Biodiversity Assessment

  • /biodiversity - Plot-level and supply-shed level assessment of canopy height heterogeneity and landscape connectivity as proxy for species diversity in the supply base.

Water Use Analysis

  • /water_use - Plot-level and supply-shed level assessment of land surface temperature and evapotranspiration, as a proxy for water availability and use in agricultural systems.

Plot Validation

  • /validate_plots - Comprehensive integrity checks for agricultural plot geometries to ensure data quality for sustainability analysis.
  • /validate_plot - Single plot geometry validation using WKT geometry strings.

Facility Validation

  • /validate_facilities - Multi-source validation of commodity aggregation facility locations using satellite data, POI analysis, and AI scoring.
  • /validate_facility - Single facility location validation for supply chain verification and due diligence.

Key Features

Simplified Data Access

Even though satellite imagery data are often distributed in image tiles, the SCo2-API hides away the complexity of working with images and pixels. The API calls return a JSON with float values, string and string geometries based on a provided input geometry (Well-Known Text or GeoJSON file) and date (e.g. EUDR cut-off date, today's date), so the user (you!) does not have to deal with imagery.

Advanced Spatial Processing

The spatial aggregation (i.e. conversion from image to table with attributes) at the geometry level is performed in the back-end using best practices around:

  • Resolution resampling
  • Geometry validation and simplification
  • Reprojection
  • Image masking
  • And other spatial processing techniques

Use Cases

Real-time Analysis

The Core API is useful for spot checks and sustainability metrics of individual or small sets of polygons, as the results are real time.

Small-scale Processing

Perfect for analyzing individual plots, small batches of polygons, or real-time sustainability assessments.

Integration with Batch Processing

For large volumes of data, we recommend using the Batch API which leverages the same underlying Core API functionality.

Getting Started

To find out more about the API inputs and outputs, check out: