Sea-level rise is one of the most immediate consequences of climate change, as highlighted recently through urgent pleas from leaders of island nations at the COP26 summit. Global measures of sea-level rise are imperative to underpinning global policy and for strategies to protect coastlines and low-lying lands.

Thawing permafrost in the Arctic is already unleashing methane and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, exacerbating global temperature rise. As well adding to the climate crisis, this ground, which has been frozen for thousands of years, is becoming unstable and causing serious issues for local communities.

Between September 1982 and December 2020, at least 51 512 people were rescued on land and at sea with help from a network of Earth-orbiting satellites able to detect and locate emergency distress beacons.

A new exhibition called Space for our Planet: Space Solutions for a Sustainable World, was on display in Paris and Brussels, showing how space technologies, applications and services benefit planet Earth and humankind. 

With Covid restrictions a little more relaxed, scientists from Europe and the USA were finally able to team up for a long-awaited field experiment to ensure that a new Copernicus satellite called CHIME will deliver the best possible data products as soon as it is operational in orbit.

Earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its latest assessment report laying out the accumulating evidence of the climate crisis.

After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Wetlands International saw that many lives had been spared by something surprising – mangroves. In response the non-profit organisation scaled up its work on protecting and restoring these complex ecosystems. One important tool in their arsenal is images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and -2 satellites.

The UK Space Agency has become the first external contributor to ESA’s catalogue of projects that support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 43 UK Space Agency projects join over 700 examples of how ESA itself is applying space technology, data and systems to build a better and more sustainable future for all.