Space4Climate is supporting the Space & Geospatial Virtual Pavilion that will extend climate change and sustainability issues at COP26 to online audiences.
The virtual pavilion will operate online from November 1-11 alongside the world climate summit in Glasgow. It is expected to attract thousands of delegates from across all industries and will feature over 30 sessions with expert speakers including high profile senior figures in government, academia and industry, as well as former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore. Delegates will hear about and join discussions on understanding emerging technologies and services that enable the use of location intelligence to improve operations and meet global climate targets. They will be able to network online while learning about the role of innovation, technology, and collaboration in supporting the response to the climate emergency and meeting Net Zero targets.
As one of the Space & Geospatial Virtual Pavilion partners, Space4Climate is hosting the plenary session on Wednesday, November 10th ‘In Space We Trust: Powering inclusive local climate action with space technology and human connections’ with the UK Space Agency International Partnership Programme (IPP) and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data.
Beth Greenaway, Chair of Space4Climate and Head of Earth Observation and Climate at the UK Space Agency, welcomed the virtual pavilion saying: “The UK is leading the way in using space to monitor, understand and therefore tackle climate change. COP 26 is a hugely significant event, bringing together heads of state, climate experts and campaigners to agree coordinated action to tackle climate change.
“We are delighted to be partnering with KTN on the virtual pavilion, which showcases to those not physically in Glasgow, some of the vital work experts from the space sector are doing in the development of satellites, the analysis and exploitation of data and the implementation of climate services to tackle the biggest challenge facing our planet today.”
The Space and Geospatial Virtual Pavilion has been organised by KTN (the Knowledge Transfer Network) with key partner and is free to attend. As well as Space4Climate, partners include: the UK Space Agency, the Satellite Applications Catapult, Geospatial Commission, UKspace, Location Data Scotland, Scottish Space Leadership Council (through the University of Edinburgh), Association for Geographic Information (AGI), ESRI UK, GHGSat, Sparkgeo, Satellite Vu, ACC Clyde, European Space Agency, UKRI, Innovate UK, Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC), Ordnance Survey, the British Association of Remote Sensing Companies (BARSC), Space Academic Network, Room, Geospatial World, The Herald and AstroAgency.
Andy Bennett, KTN’s Knowledge Transfer Manager for Space, said: “Space and geospatial data plays a key role in monitoring climate change, with the importance of this data continuing to increase. The Space & Geospatial Virtual Pavilion for COP26 is designed to show that location intelligence is now key business intelligence that enables organisations to monitor, adapt and become resilient to climate change.”
Luca Budello, Knowledge Transfer Manager for Geospatial at KTN, said: “With COP26 just around the corner, it’s important that we realise that understanding our planet is inherently a geospatial exercise. It goes without saying that there are vast differences between cities and rural environments, and these differences impact business, society, and the climate in different ways.
“There are emerging ideas and technologies designed to leverage geospatial data that will play an essential role in tackling the climate emergency and unlock the trillions of pounds worth of private capital necessary to meet the Net Zero targets.”