How AI and data science could unlock the future of greenhouse gas removal

Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. As industries around the world look for ways to reduce their environmental impact, innovative technologies are emerging that not only cut emissions but actively remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. But how can this be measured?

Contents:

1. What causes greenhouse gases?
2. Removing the greenhouse gases already in our atmosphere
3. Crop Intellect's mission
4. The data challenge
5. Partnering with the National Innovation Centre for Data
6. Building towards AI-driven environmental insights
7. Innovation for environmental impact
8. What is BridgeAI?
9. Looking ahead…

Through Innovate UK's BridgeAI programme, the National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD) partnered with Lincoln-based agri-tech company Crop Intellect to explore how data science and artificial intelligence (AI) could combine to measure the environmental impact of a promising new technology designed to remove greenhouse gases from agriculture.

What causes greenhouse gases?

Greenhouse gases exist in our atmosphere all the time, but the amount of them in our atmosphere is causing harm to our planet.

Since the industrial revolution, humans have been releasing increasing amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. While some is produced by natural activities such as digestion, respiration, volcanic eruptions, and methane from wetlands, much is caused by human activities. This includes the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, methane released by decaying rubbish in landfills, and industrial and agricultural activities.

These gases act like the glass walls of a greenhouse, letting the sun’s light through, but trapping heat around the earth. Over the last 30 years, global temperatures have hugely accelerated, and are now the highest since records began.

The impacts of this are already being felt around the world through more frequent extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and pressure on ecosystems, food production, and human health.

Removing the greenhouse gases already in our atmosphere

While much attention is focused on reducing carbon emissions, scientists increasingly agree that reaching climate targets will also require us to remove some greenhouse gases that are already in the atmosphere.

This process, known as greenhouse gas removal, is becoming a vital part of the journey towards a more sustainable future.

When most people think about greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO₂) tends to dominate the conversation. However, other gases can have an even greater warming effect. One of these is nitrous oxide (N₂O), which is roughly 300 times more potent at trapping heat than CO₂ and remains in the atmosphere for approximately 114 years.

N₂O is predominantly produced through agricultural activities.

Finding effective ways to reduce and remove these emissions is an important scientific and environmental challenge. And while developing promising technologies is a huge part of the solution, researchers and businesses need reliable ways to measure, analyse, and validate environmental impact in real-world conditions.

How R-Leaf® works: activated by sunlight, the photocatalyst on the leaf surface generates superoxide and hydroxyl radicals that break down atmospheric nitrous oxide (N₂O) into harmless nitrogen and oxygen, and convert nitrogen oxides (NOx) into nitrate (NO₃) taken up by the plant.

Crop Intellect's mission

Crop Intellect is an innovative agri-tech company developing sustainable technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while supporting agricultural productivity. Its flagship product, R-leaf®, is designed to capture atmospheric pollutants that contain nitrogen and oxygen, and convert them to plant feed.

The technology is prepared into a suspension concentrate solution and sprayed on living plant surfaces. The pollutants are then broken down to nitrate, which can be absorbed by the plants as feed.

The results are reduced air pollution and increased crop yield.

To prove these environmental benefits, specialist equipment is used to measure greenhouse gas concentrations in agricultural settings, generating substantial volumes of information that must then be processed, analysed and interpreted.

As the company expanded its research activities, the challenge became how to manage and scale this process efficiently.

R-Leaf®, Crop Intellect's photocatalytic foliar spray, in its 5-litre commercial pack. Sprayed onto the crop canopy, it supplies manganese, zinc and molybdenum while converting atmospheric nitrogen oxides into plant-available nitrate.

The data challenge

Before the project began, much of Crop Intellect's analysis relied on manual, spreadsheet-based workflows.

Processing field measurements was time-consuming, large datasets required extensive handling, and information was collected across multiple environments, creating challenges around consistency and organisation. These processes worked for smaller-scale activities, but the company recognised that future growth would require a more efficient approach.

Like many innovative businesses, Crop Intellect was interested in the longer-term potential of predictive modelling and artificial intelligence. However, successful AI projects depend on strong data foundations.

Before sophisticated models can deliver meaningful insights, organisations need robust systems for collecting, organising and processing their data.

Partnering with the National Innovation Centre for Data

The National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD) supports organisations of all sizes to improve their data capabilities, develop new skills, and unlock opportunities through data-driven innovation. Working across sectors, NICD helps businesses gain practical value from data while building confidence and capability within their own teams.

Through the BridgeAI programme, NICD worked closely with Crop Intellect to assess its existing data and identify opportunities for improvement.

An early finding was that a single season of field measurements would not provide sufficient data to build a robust predictive model. Rather than rushing towards AI for its own sake, the project focused on creating the foundations needed for future success.

NICD delivered a series of hands-on sessions covering Python, Git, GitHub, data visualisation and exploratory analysis, helping build the technical capability within the Crop Intellect team. At the same time, specialists worked alongside the business to develop a reproducible data processing pipeline that could automate many previously manual tasks.

The result was an end-to-end workflow capable of transforming raw field measurements into structured, analysis-ready datasets that demonstrate the immense environmental impact made by R-leaf.

Building towards AI-driven environmental insights

While the project did not immediately produce a predictive AI model, it achieved a clear pathway towards one.

By improving data quality, standardising processes, and introducing scalable analytical workflows, Crop Intellect is now better positioned to collect the volume and quality of information needed to support future modelling approaches.

‘Everything we did had the intention of building and helping the team at Crop Intellect to develop and improve beyond the project. Therefore, each session was tailored towards upskilling its team, ensuring clear understanding of the topics, and the direct relevance to their work.’ – Dr Owen Li, Data Scientist, National Innovation Centre for Data

The project also explored how additional environmental factors, including weather data, could contribute to future predictive insights as more field data becomes available.

This highlights an important lesson for organisations exploring AI. Successful innovation rarely begins with algorithms. Instead, it starts with good data, effective processes, and people with the skills to use them.

Innovation for environmental impact

The collaboration demonstrates how partnerships between businesses, researchers and innovation centres can help address complex global challenges.

For Crop Intellect, the project improved efficiency, strengthened internal capability and provided a roadmap for future development. For NICD, it was an opportunity to apply data science expertise to a real-world environmental challenge with the potential for significant impact.

More broadly, the project shows how digital technologies can support sustainability goals, helping organisations make better decisions, generate new insights and accelerate the development of solutions that benefit both industry and the environment.

Crop Intellect's distributor Bancella inspecting a cereal crop treated with R-Leaf® in Zambia. The agronomy assessment found the extra nitrogen captured by R-Leaf supporting stronger growth and improved yield.

What is BridgeAI?

BridgeAI is an Innovate UK programme designed to help businesses harness the potential of artificial intelligence and data-driven technologies. By bringing together organisations with technology and data expertise, the programme aims to accelerate innovation and increase adoption of AI across sectors.

For businesses like Crop Intellect, this creates opportunities to access specialist knowledge, develop new capabilities and explore how emerging technologies can support growth and innovation.

Looking ahead…

As Crop Intellect collects further data from future growing seasons, the foundations established through this project will enable increasingly sophisticated analysis and potentially the development of predictive models that can streamline the validation of greenhouse gas removal.

For NICD, the project is another example of how data science can help organisations turn complex challenges into opportunities.

The path to a more sustainable future will require innovation across many disciplines. By combining scientific expertise, environmental ambition and strong data foundations, collaborations like this are helping ensure that promising technologies can deliver measurable, scalable impact where it matters most.

You might also like…

• Explore how Crop Intellect is evolving the world of plant nutrition
• Find out how R-leaf is converting air pollution into plant fertiliser
• Discover how the National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD) are empowering businesses through data proficiency and innovation
• Find out more about the Bridge AI programme