UK to chair global Earth observation group with bold ambitions for data uptake

As CEOS celebrates its 40th anniversary at the annual CEOS Plenary in Montreal, the CEOS Community of space and meteorological agencies and other groups has also renewed its collective commitment to CEOS' mission and efforts in responding to global challenges for the good of humanity, with the agreement of the Montreal Statement. 

Satellite Earth observation data can deliver significant public benefits in areas ranging from climate and biodiversity monitoring, disaster management, clean energy and urban planning. 

The UK is involved in a range of Earth observation missions that contribute to global capabilities. These include leadership of the European Space Agency's TRUTHS mission, which will improve confidence in climate forecasts; Biomass, which will monitor the world's forests; Microcarb, a ground-breaking French-UK satellite mission for carbon monitoring; and the various Sentinel missions of the European Copernicus programme with its associated user-facing Services.  As well as these missions, the UK are experts in the use of the data for applications ranging from cutting edge science, operational services, new commercial and public sector services.

The UK Space Agency's role as CEOS Chair will be to oversee the activities of CEOS and ensure it is achieving the objectives of its work plan. The UK Space Agency has proposed four priorities to champion data-driven solutions for major global challenges over the 12-month period as Chair, within the theme of ‘Unlocking Earth Observation for Society': 

1. Using Earth observation to improve public services. 

2. Increasing use of space data in the Global Stocktakes of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

3. Supporting development of Methane emissions measurement best-practices. 

4. Inspiring the next generation through a new ‘CEOS in Schools' initiative. 

As Chair, an early task will be to represent CEOS on the global stage and promote its goals and objectives, starting at next month's COP-29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, and continuing throughout 2025.  

Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, said: 

For 40 years, CEOS has been uniting the global community to champion the transformative potential of satellites and Earth Observation.   

I'm proud to be chairing this globally-valued committee and will use the next year to demonstrate how, by working together across borders, we can harness space technology for the benefit of our societies, our shared environment, and our economies.

Unlocking EO for Public Service

The UK will create opportunities for CEOS' agencies to share their national perspectives and explore how to bridge the gap between data and public sector services, including hosting a workshop in September 2025 ahead of the UK's CEOS Plenary 2025, in Bath, Somerset in November.  This supports work to get Earth observation tools and information embedded it on UK public sector policies at the national and local scale.  

Éric Laliberté, CEOS Chair 2024 on behalf of the Canadian Space Agency said: 

We congratulate the UK Space Agency on assuming the chairmanship role and are committed to ensuring that data-driven decisions pave the way for increasingly sustainable practices. 

Together, we are advancing the role of satellite Earth observation in creating sustainable solutions for the future of our societies and natural environments.

Unlocking EO for the Global Stocktake 

The Global Stocktake of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a process for evaluating progress on climate action at a global level and identifying gaps. Over the next 12 months, the UK will work closely with Japanese Space Agency, JAXA, and the CEOS working group on Climate to study lessons learned from the previous Global Stocktake. The aim is to refine CEOS strategies to enhance the use of Earth observation data in the next Global stock-take for global climate action.   

Professor John Remedios, NCEO Director, said:   

The National Centre for Earth Observation is very pleased to see the UK taking on leadership on the world stage. The UK is able to contribute world-leading capability and methods in Earth Observation to the global community.  

Through this role in CEOS, the UK will be able to support the important collaborative efforts that agencies need to achieve to meet the challenges of climate and of resilience with commitment, rigour and Earth intelligence. We are delighted to be supporting the UK Space Agency in its delegation with scientific advice and connectivity to the leading research in environmental science. 

Methane Best-Practices 

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with a warming potential approximately ~80 times higher than carbon dioxide over 20 years. Reducing methane emissions is the quickest way to mitigate acute climate risks and is crucial for maintaining the 1.5-degree target. At COP26 in Glasgow, 158 countries committed to reduce global methane emissions by 30% by 2030.  

The CEOS Greenhouse Gas Task Team is developing best practices for space-based methane measurements, which are crucial for addressing climate change. 

This work, which is co-led by the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is developing a set of agreed accurate, transparent and trusted best practices for reporting Methane emissions at the facility scale. The UK Space Agency will promote the uptake of these best practices on a global scale, focusing on the Global Methane Pledge to unlock the potential of space-based solutions and support the UK's commitment to reduce methane emissions. 

Ally Barker, Vice-chair of the UKspace Trade Association's EO Committee said: 

This is an opportune time for the UK to demonstrate its leadership in Earth observation on the global stage.  UK industry looks forward to working closely with the UK Space Agency as it takes on the Chair of CEOS to maximise the societal and economic benefits of EO for the UK and the world.

CEOS in Schools 

The UK Space Agency is set to pilot a CEOS mechanism aimed at inspiring the next generation. This initiative will demonstrate to students, aged 14-16, how satellite Earth Observation is used to address global issues such as climate change, environmental protection, and disaster management, while also allowing those students to experience the power of international collaboration. 

The programme will put experts into schools to bring the topics of climate and space to life and then bring students together from across the world for online workshops to discuss the topics with their peers. The programme will culminate in the first CEOS Youth Summit where students will have the opportunity to present and discuss their work with senior Earth observation experts, giving young people a voice in CEOS. 

Met Office Services Director Simon Brown said: 

It's an exciting time for the UK to take up this prestigious role in CEOS. Earth observations are at the heart of us delivering world leading weather and climate services and we are proud of the observations we get through the collaboration of European member states at EUMETSAT and underpinned by national and ESA Missions.  

Access to Earth observations is changing and I look forward to working closely with UK Space Agency team to grow, influence and be part of the changing space endeavour to advance Earth observations to protect us from weather extremes.