Charting the Future of Earth Observation 2024

Charting the Future of Earth Observation: Technology Innovation for Climate Intelligence3Foreword With escalating temperatures, increasingly severe weather events and unprecedented levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the world stands at a crossroads. Scientific consensus underscores that immediate measures are essential to mitigate the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. In this new paradigm, Earth observation (EO) technology and innovation are championing a new era for climate intelligence, offering unprecedented insights and solutions to address these urgent challenges. Recent EO innovations, combined with the growth of synergistic technologies (technologies that enhance each other’s effectiveness), are eliminating barriers to the effective use of EO at scale. Today’s transformational technologies, including advanced satellite sensors, algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI), are proving to be the “enablers” we need, broadening our understanding of our changing environment. At the same time, the launch of additional EO satellites from many nations – and an increasing number of private sector EO data providers – has widened access to images and observable measurements from satellites with the highest revisit times (satellites that visit certain geographic regions more frequently). In turn, this provides more detailed remotely sensed data relating to various elements of climate change. This white paper, written in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, highlights the transformative potential of EO for climate intelligence and forecasting. By combining the research capabilities of the MIT Media Lab with the global platform of the World Economic Forum, the paper identifies technology pipelines accelerating the processing and analysis of satellite EO data to provide unparalleled insights into climate change. The paper also highlights the need for accessible and inclusive climate insights, especially for communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. We hope this publication will serve as a valuable resource on technology pipelines in EO to address the pressing challenges of climate change. Sebastian Buckup Head, Network and Partnerships; Member, Executive Committee, World Economic ForumDava Newman Director, MIT Media Lab; Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics, MIT Charting the Future of Earth Observation: Technology Innovation for Climate Intelligence September 2024