What an incredible experience last week! Joy van Breda and I delivered a Climate Fresk workshop for the Earth Observation Future Missions & Architectures team at the European Space Agency – ESA! 🌍🚀
During the session, guided by IPCC findings, we dove deep into climate science. The team mapped out the causes and consequences of climate change, connecting the dots between human activity and planetary health. We didn’t stop at understanding the problem — we also explored ESA’s Green Agenda and the steps they’re taking to address it!
We went over ESA’s Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions and the targets they have set (a 46.2% reduction for Scope 1 & 2 and 28% for Scope 3 by 2030 – compared to 2019). Downstream and upstream emissions are especially important, considering that 91% of their emissions come from Scope 3, mainly through project funding and purchases. What made the discussion even more engaging was diving into avoided emissions (can we call this Scope 4?). This team is literally designing the future of Earth Observation (EO) missions that can provide critical data to help reduce emissions globally. 🌍🛰️
Why Earth Observation matters:
— 🛰️ EO is essential for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Satellites orbiting our planet allow us to monitor its health periodically or in real-time, providing critical data to make informed decisions.
— 🛰️ It plays a crucial role in monitoring and understanding climate tipping points by providing a comprehensive view of the Earth’s systems. These missions enable scientists to track changes in polar ice sheets and their glaciers and ice shelves, ocean temperatures and other key indicators.
— 🛰️ The missions help us monitor other Planetary Boundaries via indicators like forest cover, stratospheric ozone concentration, and atmospheric aerosol loading. After all, it is incredibly difficult to govern something that we cannot monitor.
Through a whole Earth approach, we can ensure that we’re building the right satellites and measuring the right things, which can then be used to protect the interconnected natural systems that keep our planet stable and resilient — Global Commons. The global commons are our shared inheritance and responsibility — which means we all need to play a part in protecting them. 💪🌍
I left the session feeling inspired and empowered, and I hope the team did too! 💚 A big thank you to Andromachi Griva for inviting us and making this workshop possible and to our fantastic co-facilitator, Steven George, for his invaluable support.





