WASHINGTON — There are nearly 1,200 Earth observation satellites in orbit, built by private companies, that are capturing huge amounts of data to monitor environmental and economic change. Companies in this industry, which rely heavily on defense and intelligence government contracts, are now looking for climate-focused customers that could leverage data from space to generate value for their businesses and for the planet.
That was one of the takeaways from a paper written by the World Economic Forum and the consulting firm Deloitte that was discussed at the WEF meeting that concluded last week in Davos, Switzerland.
This has been a topic of interest to the World Economic Forum, which in 2021 published another paper titled “Space for Net Zero” explaining the crucial role of satellites in understanding climate change.
Brett Loubert, a Deloitte partner and head of the company’s space practice, hosted a panel at Davos on the topic of Earth observation satellites and what the industry can do to attract new users and customers.
Companies in this sector are stepping up outreach efforts to educate corporations, nonprofits and other groups on the potential applications for tracking assets like forests and emissions, and to find new ways to apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to derive value from the data in a more automated way, Loubert told SpaceNews.
“The traditional intelligence community type applications are still going to grow and are always going to be in demand,” he said. But there is also a burgeoning demand for data related to climate and sustainability, precision agriculture, and ESG reporting requirements.
Companies need data for ESG validation, meaning that they need objective information to verify and substantiate their claims on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. This verification helps a company demonstrate to stakeholders and regulators that their sustainability efforts…
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