European Commission

Statement of the European Commission

EuroGEO, launched in 2017, represents Europe’s contribution to GEO, with its primary goal being the promotion of Earth Observations (EO) in addressing global challenges effectively. EuroGEO has developed a strategy around 3Cs: coordination of user driven activities to ensure a coherent European contribution to GEO; combination or integration of activities to reach critical mass of use; and cooperation beyond individual programmes and user communities in Europe. The EuroGEO implementation plan aligns its activities to address interconnected challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution at a global scale.

The EuroGEO workshop, that takes place every year in a different European country, this year was held in Bolzano, Italy, from the 2^nd to the 4^th of October, with more than 175 participants on site plus many more online. It provided the opportunity to position European activities in the light of the new GEO strategy, supporting the coordination of actions at national and European level and across sectors and domains to create relevant and impactful contributions to GEO.

Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the European Union (EU)’s Space Programme, was conceived, designed, and implemented as the EU contribution to GEO with similar free and open data policy principles  Copernicus offers data and services that have become integral tools in the GEO community, bringing together global Earth observation and other data in support of Sustainable Development Goals, Climate Action, Disaster Risk Reduction and broader policy and decision making in a wide range of sectors.  As an example, ‘maps without gaps’ developed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) use a wealth of observations from those many data streams and allow tracking climate variability and change over time in a consistent way to support EU’s climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Another great example of how Copernicus data is being used today is the European Ground Motion Service (EGMS). EGMS was launched in 2021 enabling users to identify ground motion with millimeter precision across Europe. The EU project RASTOOL is transforming EGMS products into cross-border landslide risk assessments, which will benefit people living in landslide-prone areas. The EO company Detektia uses EGMS to provide early warnings of infrastructure deformation. This technology detected for example significant ground surface deformation above the Fereggiano Flood Diversion Tunnel in Genoa, Italy early enough to inform action.

The recent launch of the new Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem marks a significant development for the GEO community. It provides immediate access to vast quantities of open and free Copernicus data, including new and historical Sentinel images, as well as data from Copernicus Contributing Missions and from the Copernicus In Situ service. EuroGEO is poised to leverage its projects and initiatives, including the GeoPortal Plus Project and e-shape, to facilitate the evolution of a GEO infrastructure that fully harnesses the benefits of these investments. 

The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service, is mapping the user’s requirements to existing Earth Observation digital infrastructures and services, with the goal of identifying existing overlaps and gaps. The JRC reviewed over 150 digital infrastructures and initiatives and categorized them according to the most prominent services.  From a user-driven perspective, a series of requirements, were investigated, and the outcome is a preliminary phase for designing a user centric framework in evaluating EO digital infrastructures. To complement the work, also a series of advisory technological enablers are provided in order to alleviate user’s challenges and enhance interconnection amongst the services, thus facilitating the interoperability between platforms and fostering the discoverability of available services.

The EU’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme, has contributed significantly to set up and improve EO systems and to better use and exploit their data. EU funded projects established services which address issues within and outside of Europe, exemplified by 37 pilots created by the EuroGEO flagship project e-shape. Additionally, e-shape developed a co-design toolbox, which is now accessible through the GEO Portal and the GEO Knowledge Hub along with other relevant methodologies. The partnership of e-Shape and named methodologies also support the ongoing incubator process run by GEO: The Global Ecosystem Atlas and the Global Heat Resilience Service are currently being launched as incubators for post-2025 GEO activities.

Other EU-funded projects, like EIFFEL, exploit existing GEOSS and external datasets, building upon prior knowledge, addressing GEO Societal Benefit Areas (Water and Land Use Management, Sustainable Agriculture, Transport Management, Sustainable Urban Development, Disaster Resilience).  TEMBO- AFRICA contribute to GEO Global Water Sustainability (GEOGLoWS) initiative, developing services for Africa based on in situ data for flood early warning, hydropower dam reservoir management and agricultural germination insurance.  HARMONIA supports the concept of Earth Intelligence with the Integrated Resilience Assessment Platform (IRAP) and Decision Support Systems (DSSs) that supports decision-making and planning processes with knowledge derived by the integration of EO, in-situ and social data.  The GREENGAGE project, in line with GEO's mission, foster cooperation between citizens, technical experts, and the scientific community to harness the full potential of climate-related products and services.  Most of these projects are using high end technologies, like Artificial Intelligence in combination with Earth Observation data in their research work.

The European Environment Agency (EEA), in support of the European Commission, has been running a three-year project focused on improving the sharing and use of in situ Earth observation data in support of environment and climate policies, supporting the GEO Data Working Group (DWG) which EEA co-leads.  A tool was already developed for the GEO community (G-reqs) that provides a methodology for the collection and management of in-situ data user requirements, and currently GEO Work Programme activities are engaged to document their needs, improving the availability and accessibility of in-situ data, in line with the In Situ Data Strategy for GEO.

The Destination Earth (DestinE) is a flagship initiative of the European Commission to develop a highly accurate digital twin of the Earth. This model will monitor, simulate and predict the interaction between natural phenomena and human activities, using unprecedented observation and simulation capabilities powered by Europe’s High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capacity. Use cases are currently developed that will increase preparedness to major natural disasters, support adaptation to climate change and predict the socioeconomic impacts.

Earth observation data and services are essential input in building sustainable Early Warning Systems for effective climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. The European Commission committed to support the strengthening of Africa Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Early Action System (AMEWHAS), contributing also to the GEO goals on Disaster Risk Reduction.  In the same context, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa (GMES & Africa) Support Programme, which is a joint programme of the European Commission and of the African Union Commission, is and will continue to be a reference in Africa for decision-makers and for a sustainable livelihood as both the European and Africa Union Commissions committed.  This will not only be beneficial for the AfriGEO community, but it will surely contribute to the advancement of the GEO Work programme and its priorities.