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Space for our climate

Taking the pulse of our planet from space

The scientific evidence of global climate change is irrefutable. The consequences of a warming climate are far-reaching – affecting fresh water resources, global food production, sea level and triggering an increase in extreme-weather events. In order to tackle climate change, scientists and decision-makers need reliable data to understand how our planet is changing.

For more than three decades, Earth-observing satellites have been providing the facts needed to address the challenges of our changing world.

427 ppm carbon dioxide

3 .2 mm yearly sea level rise

427 GT loss of ice sheets

1 .5°C Paris Agreement

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[ CryoSat ]

ARCHIVE CONTENT: 13 JUN. 2018

Antarctica hikes up sea level

In a major collaborative effort, scientists from around the world have used information from satellites to reveal that ice melting in Antarctica has not only raised sea levels by 7.6 mm since 1992, but, critically, almost half of this rise has occurred in the last five years.

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[ Space for our climate ]

ARCHIVE CONTENT: 15 DEC. 2025

Satellites help tackle landfill methane leaks

Satellites are emerging as a powerful new tool in the fight to curb emissions of methane. While methane is much shorter-lived in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, it is vastly more potent at trapping heat, which makes rapid cuts essential for slowing warming in the short term. The same satellite technology that has transformed methane monitoring in the oil and gas sector is now being turned towards another major source – landfill sites.

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[ Space for our climate ]

ARCHIVE CONTENT: 17 NOV. 2025

ESA investigates high-stakes Amazon tipping point

For decades, the Amazon rainforest has quietly absorbed vast quantities of human-generated carbon dioxide, helping to slow the pace of climate change. Recent evidence, however, suggests that this vital natural buffer may be weakening – though uncertainties remain.To help close this critical knowledge gap, European and Brazilian researchers have gathered deep in the Amazon to carry out an ambitious European Space Agency-funded field campaign.

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[ Biomass ]

ARCHIVE CONTENT: 13 NOV. 2025

Brazil gears up to harness ESA’s Biomass data

As the COP30 climate conference gets underway in Brazil, the world’s attention is once again drawn to the plight of the Amazon – the planet’s largest and most vital rainforest. With the European Space Agency’s Earth Explorer Biomass satellite now in orbit, ESA is helping Brazil prepare to transform this new mission’s groundbreaking data into actionable knowledge for protecting the rainforest and confronting climate change.

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Weather versus climate at a glance

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[ Space for our climate ]

11 JUN. 2004

Climate change

Our climate is undergoing change more rapid than at any other point since the end of the last ice age, 10 000 years ago. The extent remains uncertain but its direction is clear: the world is heating up, and it appears to be due to our actions.

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[ Space for our climate ]

24 SEP. 2015

ESA and climate

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[ Space for our climate ]

26 NOV. 2015

ESA’s Climate Change Initiative

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change leads international efforts to combat climate change and limit global temperature rise to less 2°C above what it was in pre-industrial times, as set out in the Paris Agreement. Robust scientific evidence of change is fundamental this challenging task.

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[ Space for our climate ]

05 MAY. 2021

Weather vs climate: What's the difference?

Although they are closely related, weather and climate are not the same. The difference between weather and climate is simply a matter of time. Weather refers to the short-term conditions of the atmosphere, while climate describes the average weather conditions over a long period of time.

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Space for our climate

Taking the pulse of our planet from space