Accelerating Market Opportunities to Transform Climate Action Efforts through Earth Observation

Space4Climate is proud to launch the call for Market Breakthrough Funding Phase 2 – deadline April 12^th, 2025

Background

In response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report’s (AR6) clear statement: ‘1.5°C of warming will be reached by 2040 in all scenarios’, Space4Climate launched a Market Breakthrough Funding call in 2023 to overcome technological barriers to adoption of satellite climate data across the public and private sectors for Net Zero Action.

Without transformational, urgent and collaborative change, across the world, we will be subject to the most extreme heat, flooding and supply-chain climate impacts. In the first phase of the Market Breakthrough Funding call, three cohorts focused on work in three sectors: Agriculture, GHG Emissions and Sustainable Finance. The result was three reports that identify needs, opportunities and ways forward in effectively engaging with actors in policy, industry, research and the third sector to accelerate the uptake of satellite climate data among end users. Space4Climate has published the reports as open access resources – you can read them here.

Space4Climate is committed to making the path to adoption of EO easier. To this end, we have allocated further funding available to organisations across the space and non-space sectors to collaborate to build on the results Phase 1 of the Market Breakthrough Funding. This Phase 2 call aims to transform the identified insights into how end users apply Earth Observation data and tools to improve adaptation and mitigation in the UK and globally. This builds on the recommendations and solutions of the Space4Climate Market Breakthrough Funding Phase 1.

Space4Climate urges interested entities and collaborative teams to address one or more insights from the results of the Market Breakthrough Funding Phase 1 (as set out in the insight reports) to set out a pathway to operationalise Phase 1 findings for the EO sector and end users.

Funding type: Procurement

Project size and funding: A total fund of up to £90,000 inclusive of VAT, is allocated for this phase. Space4Climate will consider applications of up to £45,000 inclusive of VAT.
Project Duration: Minimum 6 months (projects must be completed by December 31^st, 2025)

Who can apply

Project eligibility

• 1 project can address 1 or more insights but the same project team is discouraged from submitting more than 1 application
• Start no later than June 1^st 2025
• End no later than December 31^st 2025
• Must be a minimum of 6 months
• The maximum total cost of the application is up to £45,000 inclusive of VAT

Project team / consortium

1. Must be led by a UK-registered entity of any size
2. There is an option to form a collaborative project team with others from businesses, research organisations and/or sector end users worldwide.
3. Purchase order for the project and subsequent milestone payments will be placed only to a single entity (the lead organisation) which will be considered as the main contractor and the collaborating organisations part of the team, as sub-contractors.
4. Space4Climate will not prepare any contracts for the work and the lead entity must enter into an MoU or collaboration agreement with the consortium.

Scope

The aim of this collaboration funding is to accelerate the rate of adoption of satellite-based climate services. Interested organisations and cohorts are called on to provide specific recommendations of solutions based on the findings of the three Market Breakthrough Funding Phase 1 reports across 3 climate critical sectors:

1. Sustainable Finance
2. GHG Emissions
3. Net zero: Agriculture

Phase 1 findings – Navigating Market Adoption of Satellite-based Climate Services

Your application must:

• Demonstrate significant support and engagement from relevant sector end users or customers.
• Application must address sector-specific user requirements, as identified in the Phase 1 findings and be backed by relevant literature or end user statements.
• Provide a clear next step to one or more of the key insights identified to take findings from Phase 1 forward, ensuring real change in the sector through the adoption of EO.
• Outputs must show potential for positive economic and societal impact.
• Outputs must address any regulatory issues and constraints.

Important dates

• March 10^th 2025 – Funding opportunity launch
• April 12^th 2025 – Application submission deadline, please submit via space4climate@reading.ac.uk
• By April 30^th 2025 – Selection of projects and notification
• By May 16^th 2025 – Lead organisation onboarding completion by the University of Reading
• May 26^th 2025 – Projects start
• June 1^st 2025 – Latest project start date
• December 31^st 2025 – Projects ends (Max date)
• Date to be decided – Final presentations

How to apply

By submitting an application, you agree to the terms set out in the Terms & Conditions document. Once successful, Space4Climate and the University of Reading will place the master Purchase Order confirmation to kickstart the project and it will need to be signed and returned by the lead entity.

As the lead entity applying you will be responsible for:

• Submitting the main application.
• Collecting information for your application.
• Complying with efforts to onboard your entity as an approved vendor with the University of Reading.
• Setting up a collaboration agreement or MoU between you and your consortium.
• Acting as the main point of contact on all matters with Space4Climate/ University of Reading.
• Representing your team in leading the project if your application is successful.

What happens next

A panel of Space4Climate board members (members from commercial organisations will not be part of the panel) will review, feedback and confirm project acceptance. Lead entities of accepted projects will be onboarded to University of Reading procurement for issuance of a PO ahead of the project start.

Supporting information

If you need more information about the call or how to apply, email space4climate@reading.ac.uk