Climate Change

Urban heat mapping

Heatwaves are likely to increase in frequency, intensity and duration. Heat-related impacts will intensify with serious consequences for the environment as well as for public health .
Urban planning plays a significant role in climate-related adaptation, and reduce the urban heat island effect.

EO-based high-resolution Land Surface Temperature (LST) morning-afternoon difference products measure temperature differences and identify heat islands, aiding planning actions such as implementing green roofs, increasing green and blue spaces, improving street layouts and building designs to enhance natural cooling.

Product examples 

• Land surface temperature

• Urban heat islands

• Climate impact and assessment tool

References: 

• Green Transition Information Factory (esa.int) 

Green House Gas reporting

Through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), all nations agreed to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change with the aim to change the global average temperature increase below 2°C. The Paris agreement requires that all nations must report regularly on their national anthropogenic GHG emissions and removals to the EC and UNFCCC.

Satellite information provides detailed information on all elements of the carbon cycle, supporting the quantification of GHG emissions inventories in National Inventory Reports. Integration of specialised satellite information products supports the need for independent GHG reporting and verification capacities.

Product examples 

• LULUCF Activity Data for emission estimations (Europe)

• LULUCF Activity Data for emission estimations (Austria)

• Integration of Copernicus satellite data in the LULUCF reporting process

• Uncertainty assessments/characterization

References: 

• GHG-KIT

Biomass & carbon storage assessment

Europe has the ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, arriving at net-zero emissions by 2050.
Biomass stands out as one of the major uncertainties in GHG emissions reporting. Forest disturbances such as harvest and wildfires are often not sufficiently considered and accurately measured.

EO-based Above Ground Biomass (AGB) mapping and monitoring and biomass tomographic products, have a strong benefit for the monitoring and verification of GHG emission reporting. Assessment of carbon storage is relevant for the private sector, namely for forest carbon trading, corporate sustainability reporting and for the voluntary carbon market.

Product examples 

• Above Ground Biomass (AGB)

• Biomass tomographic products

• Carbon storage assessment

References: 

• EUREKA Network Project: Breathe

Climate change induced crop shifts

Climate change poses a significant challenge for agriculture, affecting crop yields, food security and rural livelihoods. Changes in weather and climate patterns already affect the availability of water, production patterns and yield. The changes in agroclimatic conditions induce strong shifts in crop phenology, yield potentials, crop suitability and cropping risks.  

The combination of Earth observation data and high-resolution modelling data derived from the Climate Digital Twin provides an innovative and scalable prediction service to forecast shifts in crop growing patterns, addressing climate adaptation needs for agricultural stakeholders. 

Product examples: 

• EO-derived agricultural parameters and indicators on field-level  

• Prediction of cash crop development 

• Crop growing area patterns 

• Crop risk model 

Reference:

• Climate Digital Twin

Global Development Assistance – Climate Resilience   

Climate resilience is the ability to anticipate, absorb, accommodate, or recover from climate change in a timely and efficient manner. Access to high quality information on environmental risks is required to achieve climate resilience. Earth observation (EO) has the potential to inform and facilitate climate resilient development globally. EO-based products and services deliver timely and accurate information about the Earth and thus, provide vital knowledge about climate risks and resilience.

Product examples: 

• Climate risk management
• Emission reduction estimation
• Climate financing
• Drought monitoring
• Predictive climate modelling
• Financial risk monitoring
• Climate adjustment
• Ensuring integration and support for climate investments by International Financial Institutions (IFIs)

References: 

• GDA Climate Resilience

Climate Change Risk Assessment

Urban areas are the focal points of economic growth and wealth creation. Cities are most vulnerable to natural hazards and climate change and are facing enormous pressure due to continued worldwide urbanisation. Smart governance is needed to counteract detrimental effects on living conditions, environment, transportation, and energy consumption. 

EO-based services offer a powerful tool for fact-based decision support to plan for public service provision, locate problem areas, safeguard public investments, assess vulnerabilities, and ensure sustainable expansion. Such information was used to assess low-risk peri-urban expansion areas in Dakar, Africa. 

Product examples: 

• Identification and spatial assessment of natural hazards and climate change risks 

• Multi-temporal urban development (including built-up areas, degree of urbanization and city infrastructure mapping) 

• Identification of areas of risk 

• Socio-economic and demographic analysis and impact assessment 

• Economic and social vulnerability assessment to natural hazards and climate change 

Urban resilience 

Urban resilience has become an important necessity for cities, particularly in the face of climate change. Mitigation and adaptation actions that enhance the resilience of cities need to be based on a sound understanding and quantification of the drivers of urban transformation and settlement structures, human and urban vulnerability, and of local and global climate change.  

EO-based products and services support the increase urban resilience by answering multidimensional problems of urban sustainability providing spatially disaggregated environmental information at local (neighbourhood) and city scales. 

CURE synergistically exploits environmental Earth observation (EO) data from the Copernicus Core Services concerning atmosphere, land, climate change and emergency. 

GeoVille’s cloud agnostic operation system enables cities to innovatively access information solutions for urban resilience, consisting of 11 individual cross-cutting applications for climate change adaptation/mitigation, energy and economy, as well as healthy cities and social environments. 

Product examples: 

• Urban environmental parameters 

• Local scale surface temperature 

• Urban heat island 

• Emission monitoring 

• Urban risk assessments (e.g. natural hazards)  

Reference: 

• CURE