Climate and Sustainability Archive
On Earth, in orbit, and in space
Why is this topic relevant to the agency?
Climate change will define global political agendas, national elections and international relations. Europe has pioneered the environment agenda since the 1970s. Today we must completely rethink society and politics on our path to climate neutrality and a circular economy in which growth is decoupled from resource use. Europe has the best space infrastructure to monitor climate change and the health of our planet. The challenge is to translate the targets of the Paris Agreement into an unprecedented societal, economic and industrial transformation.
Sustainability on Earth, in orbit, and in space
These are three key regions ESA must focus on if its goals are to be achieved. Each one has strategic initiatives to ensure sustainability and environmental protection are embedded into every project and mission. For example, the ESA Green Agenda focuses on Earth, it is the agency's action plan to ensure that space activities support environmental protection and that space activities are done in a sustainable way. Clean Space supports the intersection of Earth and orbit as it is the technical unit in charge of facilitating the implementation of ecodesign and life cycle assessments in all ESA missions, reducing their impact as early as possible, from design to disposal.
