ESA takes action for Earth Day 2022
Today is Earth Day. A day that celebrates Earth’s environment and serves as a reminder of what we can do to protect it. Sometimes the climate crisis feels so big that it is difficult to see how our actions can make a difference. But everyone can be part of the change, including each one of us at ESA.
ESA has invited colleagues to be part of Earth Day 2022 by commuting to work today using public transport, by bike or on foot. Seasonal, meat-free meals will be served in the canteens of all ESA sites, and colleagues will be encouraged to choose them. Buying and using single-use items, on the other hand, will be discouraged.
Meanwhile, ESA’s Young Person Advisory Group has organised an ESA-wide clean-up of the neighbourhoods around ESA sites. Whilst colleagues at ESTEC collect litter today from nearby sand dunes along the Dutch coast, those at ESA Headquarters are doing the same in Paris parks.
But at ESA we are well aware that we need to act every single day of the year to reduce our impact on the environment. In Agenda 2025, which outlines the challenges ahead, ESA committed to “appoint a Senior Climate and Sustainability Adviser to the Director General to ensure that ESA and European space programmes can support the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal to the fullest extent.”
ESA is also aiming to improve its own environmental responsibility, to contribute to the climate neutrality of Europe and become a more sustainable organisation overall. By 2030, the Agency targets that its greenhouse gas emissions will be decreased by 46.2% compared to 2019.
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ESA goes greener
The ‘greening of ESA’ is guided by the Agency’s Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CSR) team, led by Andrea Vena, ESA’s chief climate and sustainability officer.
“In recent years, ESA has intensified efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, with the implementation of ‘green projects’ across all establishments to, for example, increase the environmental efficiency of infrastructure and the onsite production of renewable energy,” says Andrea.
“A good example is a project we are working on with French space agency CNES to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from Europe’s Spaceport by 90% by deploying solar power plants and biomass co-generators on site by 2023. In 2019, energy consumption accounted for 63% of ESA’s internal greenhouse emissions, and the transportation of people (business travel and commuting) for 23%.”
Every two years ESA publishes a Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability report, which documents how actions led by the Agency address the needs and expectations of its stakeholders, while improving our understanding of the environment and monitoring of climate change.
Reporting on responsibility and sustainability enables ESA to consider its impacts across a wide range of issues. This is a necessary step before considering how the organisation can deal with these challenges and understand where and how to move forward.
The 2019 report revealed that ESA had exceeded its targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase its use of renewable energy by 20% each – reaching a 31% reduction in emissions and a 59% increase in renewable energy usage. In 2018, 93% of ESA’s electricity came from renewable sources. In 2019 the Agency’s greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions was business travel – a source that was of course greatly reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A target of a 20% improvement in energy efficiency was unfortunately not achieved by 2019, so the Agency has since been tackling this target head on. ESA premises are being gradually refurbished to use less energy, for example through more efficient lighting systems, thermally insulated windows, reinforced insulation, and enhanced heating and cooling systems.
Boosting commercialisation for a green and digital Europe
The theme of this year’s Earth Day is ‘invest in our planet’. This is done in many different ways, with ESA teaming up with academia, research centres, national space centres, industry and private investors, including venture capital, to boost disruptive innovation in emerging commercial space domains. Priority is given to projects that help achieve Europe’s inclusive green and digital transitions.
Progress is needed to transform vast sets of climate data from space and a ‘Digital Twin Earth’ programme will be proposed at ESA’s next Ministerial Council Meeting. The programme will allow, through ‘what if’ simulations, the testing of policy effectiveness, and support decision-making.
Energy is central to environmental sustainability. Space missions have to be energy-efficient and require advanced recycling and robotic technologies – especially for exploration – as well as innovative materials sciences.
Breakthroughs in all these areas will be pursued and commercialised to support a circular economy and climate neutrality in Europe. In particular, space-based services to support the energy transition, and potential space-based solar power generation deserve to be further investigated.
Environmental applications of ESA’s data, services and technologies
As well as improving the sustainability of our own activities, the data, services and technologies that ESA provides can help make the world more sustainable as a whole.
For example, ESA is developing technologies enabling closed-loop systems for long-term human space exploration. These systems recycle waste into fresh water and nutrients that can be used to grow plants for food and oxygen. The resulting knowledge and technologies could also improve recycling systems on Earth.
The Clean Space initiative is devoting attention to the environmental impact of ESA’s activities – both on Earth and in space. For example, it embeds environmental sustainability into space mission design, develops technologies to prevent the creation of future debris, and supports technologies to remove spacecraft from orbit and service spacecraft in orbit. Clean Space has led to the commissioning of ClearSpace-1, the first mission to remove a piece of space debris from orbit.
Meanwhile, the data collected by Earth observation satellites is vital for better understanding and monitoring our environment – including the land, oceans, atmosphere and climate.
ESA supports hundreds of other projects contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG7 for affordable and clean energy, SDG13 for climate action, SDG14 for life below water, and SDG15 for life on land. Explore these projects via our dedicated SDG project catalogue.
