These data sources power the EO value chain. Data acquired from both remote-sensing and in-situ sources undergoes processing to correct distortions and enrich information. Advanced analytical techniques are then employed to extract actionable insights from the processed data and disseminated through specialized EO platforms. The “supply side” of the EO value chain, consisting of data acquisition, processing and analytics providers, aims to facilitate access to EO insights for end users. The demand side comprises end users in agriculture, financial services and energy companies. On the supply side of the value chain, various business models arise. Some EO providers own and operate their own satellites, looking to sell the resulting generated data. Others create proprietary platforms or tools that generate insights using publicly available data or data purchased from other EO providers. Others are fully integrated and provide a full suite of capabilities, from data to tools to analysis. These varied data sources provide varying types of data, each best suited to capture differing measurements with unique applications. The figure below outlines some of the more common data types captured by remote-sensing EO satellites. The “Amplifying the Global Value of Earth Observation” Insight Report published earlier this year offers a deeper understanding of EO’s impact – including its potential to contribute $3.8 trillion to global GDP from 2023 to 2030 and eliminate 2 gigatonnes of GHG emissions every year.6 It explains the strong confluence of market forces driving this value and outlines the industries that stand to gain the most from EO, including agriculture, mining, oil and gas, electricity and utilities, financial services, insurance, supply chain and transportation. Select types of remote-sensing EO data FIGURE 2 Captures reﬂected sunlight across multiple wavelengths to monitor land, vegetation and water.Optical and multispectral Detects emitted heat energy from Earth’s surface, independent of sunlight, to monitor temperature and moisture.Thermal and infrared Sends microwave pulses that penetrate clouds, capturing detailed surface structures regardless of weather or light conditions.Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Uses laser pulses to create highly detailed 3D maps of the Earth’s surface.Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) However, for this value to be realized, EO data must be more widely used, in both commercial and public contexts. And for this, potential end users of this data must become empowered to overcome the traditional barriers to EO adoption. From an end-user perspective, systematic challenges have prevented EO data from being fully integrated into organization-wide solutions. Historically, analysing EO data has required specialized technical expertise. Traditional, large and unwieldy datasets, although often free, frequently did not provide the precision needed to derive actionable insights at the organizational level. Recently, EO providers and platforms on the supply side have begun to actively address these barriers. Government and civil society actors continue to make strides in not only providing publicly available EO data with new geographic coverage and data types, but also processing that data so that it is “analysis-ready” for organizations to deploy in their contexts. Meanwhile, commercial innovators continue to make new sources of EO data available, complementing existing publicly available information with the precision that is often needed to derive insights at the smaller site level instead of the larger regional level. At the same time, rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, including machine learning (ML) techniques and multimodal large language models (MLLMs), are being applied to EO datasets to make them more technically accessible.7 This convergence of multiple digital tools and methods, including the integration of Big Earth Data and citizen science or customer reference data, is driving rapid automation, customization and simplification of EO applications. Today, thanks to these supply-side innovations, the EO market is better poised to deliver on the promise of its potential value than it has ever been before. The Executive’s Playbook on Earth Observation: Strategic Insights for a Changing Planet 6

The Executive%E2%80%99s Playbook on Earth Observation 2025