Committee on Earth Observation Satellites

Established in 1984 as a forum for international cooperation among space agencies and other stakeholders, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) is a Participating Organisation of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and functions as its “space arm”.  CEOS brings together 34 Members and 29 Associates to advance substantive space-based Earth observation (EO) endeavours that no one country can do alone.  Its mission is to ensure international coordination of civil space-based Earth observation programmes and to promote exchange of data to optimise societal benefit and inform decision making for a prosperous and sustainable future for humankind. 

As the challenges affecting the planet become more pronounced, more frequent, and more acute, international cooperation with stakeholders on EO continues to elevate societal benefit at multiple scales in support of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the 2015 Paris Agreement, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, in line with the Space 2030 Agenda and its overarching objectives.  CEOS and GEO engage in targeted collaboration across the GEO Work Programme that is monitored and assessed on an annual basis.

The CEOS Chair, who for 2023 is the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA, Thailand), proposed priorities for this year under the banner “Space Technology for Better Environments, Economies, and Humanity”, with continued emphasis on CEOS technical contributions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)’s Global Stocktake (GST) process as a fundamental mechanism for Parties to the Paris Agreement and stakeholders to collectively assess and quantify progress toward the global goals of the treaty every five years.  CEOS is investing significant time and expertise to further inform the technical dialogues underpinning the UNFCCC GST process.  CEOS has multi-year efforts in place that are integral to the facilitation of the GST process.  A CEOS portal of relevant datasets has been compiled and a special edition of the CEOS EO Handbook has been published.  This coincides with the UNFCCC’s 28^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) that will convene from 30 November to 12 December 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Under the leadership of GISTDA as the 2023 CEOS Chair, this year CEOS formed a team of space agency experts to examine the growing role of the commercial space sector in the satellite EO community.  The focus of the group was to investigate the potential for CEOS to collaborate with existing, new, and often highly agile commercial entities through information and experience sharing.  CEOS also continues its long-established facilitation, contribution and engagement in workshops and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to build capacity for the utilisation of space-based EO data for access to, and use of, cloud computing and other EO data resources. 

In this year when GEO Ministers will review and potentially endorse the GEO Post-2025 Strategy, CEOS remains committed to contributing to shared priorities, goals, and objectives for Earth action as resources allow.  Our leadership succession in November 2023 will transition the CEOS Chair from the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) of Thailand to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) as the 2024 CEOS Chair. With this transition, CEOS looks forward to continuing the mutual collaboration with GEO in multiple domains that include the GEO flagships and other initiatives.