The role of space programmes in energy and development

In her agenda for Europe, President-elect Ursula von der Leyen committed to the overall implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. If one reads the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development from an energy-policy perspective, one thing is clear: urgent action to combat climate change and measures to dramatically reduce emissions must go hand-in-hand with the pursuit of universal access to modern energy. This must be achieved by 2030. Data from Earth observation satellites support all three lines of action.

20 years ago, the European Commission, in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), devised the Copernicus programme to enable evidence-based policymaking and help meet EU policy targets, particularly with respect to climate change and environmental protection. Today, Earth’s observation satellites – including Europe’s Copernicus-dedicated satellites in particular – provide a myriad of observations that help monitor and document sea levels rises, the warming of ocean waters, the demise of the world’s ice and more.

Such information is known as ‘Essential Climate Variables’ – it informs the Assessment Reports of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). For example, 28 authors directly involved in the ESA’s climate change initiative contributed to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report in 2013, with 15 scientific papers quoted 60 times. They are expected to have a similar impact on the Sixth Assessment Report due in 2021.

Data from the dedicated satellites built and operated through the Copernicus programme also provide observations of air quality. Combined with in situ observations and the predictive power of computer models, they benefit millions of Europeans through national air-quality forecasts and smartphone applications. Satellite observations also identify main shipping routes and make possible the estimation of air pollution emitted by marine transport worldwide. International financing institutions, such as the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank (ADB) increasingly use this type of information for their development projects, from the Philippines to Ethiopia to Bolivia.

The international community agrees that burning fossil fuels for energy is one of the principal causes of global climate change. With the threat of peak oil approaching, the use of renewable energies such as solar and wind power are growing worldwide. By 2020, a substantial amount of the EU’s energy supply should be provided by renewable sources. The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service, for instance, provides information relevant to offshore wind farms, such as wind speed, wind fields, and wave size and frequency. These parameters are crucial in determining where wind energy can be generated in the most cost-effective way whilst reducing the risk of damage.

When it comes to generating solar energy, the Copernicus satellites can be used to monitor the highly variable cloud cover and aerosols that affect the availability of solar radiation. This allows for an assessment of Earth’s solar resources at a global scale and provides long-term time series of data at high spatial resolutions. Earth observation satellites also provide valuable information to energy grid operators to monitor the state and safety of electric power grids and pipelines.

Von der Leyen has stressed the need to go further and faster if Europe wants to be carbon neutral by 2050. One must be able to monitor greenhouse gas emissions, mainly carbon dioxide and methane, but also fine particles and black carbon, at the city scale and not only in Europe, where emission sources are well documented, but all around the world. Take the case of Africa, where the population is expected to grow by 800mn inhabitants by 2050 – 600mn of which will be in cities. The African Union has rightly seized the opportunity provided by the Copernicus free and open data policy. Creative local entrepreneurs are developing smartphone-based apps that rely on Copernicus data. The impact of new oil and gas extraction sites must be monitored, as well as new trade routes that are emerging as a result of the fragile Arctic environment becoming less ice-bound.

Land-use, notably forests, will play a key role in carbon capture. Careful decisions in the energy mix must be informed, e.g. balancing the possible expansion of biofuel crops against the need to maintain forests and to feed the growing global human population. If we are serious about de-carbonising our societies, then the global carbon cycle must be much better understood, and here we need more data to advance science – and to understand global processes. These data are best provided by satellites in orbit around the Earth.

Access to commodities such as electricity must be ensured everywhere, including in developing countries, where satellite-based observations are often the most readily available source of geospatial information. Development projects funded by international institutions such as the World Bank or the ADB, increasingly use Earth observation data for measuring, among other things, environmental change owing to the development of new hydropower plants. This is made possible thanks to the open and free access data policy of Copernicus, fully in line with the EU distinctive approach to open diplomacy and multilateralism.

In order to meet these emerging requirements, new types of satellites are being proposed in the frame of the EU Space Programme and the next financial cycle. They will all support the EU’s leading role in climate policies, they will all contribute to the objectives set by the energy union and climate action regulation, and they will all maintain Europe’s leadership in Earth observation.

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