Continuous observations from satellites over multiple decades have provided a critical contribution to our knowledge and understanding of climate change. This incredible technology has helped determine accurate variations of key climate parameters such as sea level, greenhouse gases, arctic sea ice and forest cover.
Going forward into the new decade the space sector is showing continued resilience and growth and is advancing rapidly with exciting satellite missions planned which will enable observations at higher resolution of environmental parameters such as air quality, flood risk and lake levels. Such observations at the local level will also help allow businesses across the globe to assess their climate risk in sectors such as finance & insurance, cities and built environment, and critical infrastructure. Furthermore, satellite navigation and communication technologies are crucial across sectors such as aviation and maritime in helping to reduce carbon footprint.
Longer term still, space technology can offer some global net zero game-changers before 2050 where the UK can take a lead. An example is to harness solar power from space and to beam it securely and safely to a fixed area on the earth.
Conference objectives
- Identify the innovations and actions using space technology that can help the UK (and the world) achieve net zero in line with pledges made at COP26.
- Involve senior stakeholders in industry, academia and government to debate our space-enabled vision, and to leverage multi-year support from the public and private sector to drive forward new technology and exploitation delivery mechanisms.
All the above will form the basis of our exciting conference programme, where a series of presentations and panel sessions will span the following topics:
- How can we use space technology to innovatively monitor and attribute emissions to enable the monitoring of net zero global progress?
- How we can integrate satellite information products to support businesses in assessing and mitigating climate and supply chain risk?
- What approaches can be utilised from satellite technology to enable the reduction of our carbon footprint from business and wider society?
- Is next generation technology to harness solar power from space a game changer or science fiction?
