While national and international public bodies have long used satellite Earth Observation (EO) data and services to monitor and protect the environment, the sustainability transition and regulation are now driving demand from the corporate sector1.
EO is used in screening for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) as it provides valuable information about the sustainability practices of companies and the impact of their operations on the environment and society. EO has a role to play in assessing and reporting on each of the ESG factors:
- Environmental performance monitoring: Measuring greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, water use, and land-use change.
- Social impact assessment: Engagement with local communities or monitoring the effects of a company's operations on air and water quality in nearby areas.
- Governance assessment: Monitoring compliance with environmental regulations or tracking the transparency of a company's reporting on sustainability issues.
The Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) reports “more than half of the world’s economic output – US$44tn of economic value generation – is moderately or highly dependent on nature”2. TNFD was established in 2021 to develop a framework for companies and financial institutions to report on their impacts and dependencies on nature and support the transition to a nature-positive economy. While TNFD is a voluntary framework, it is expected to be adopted by regulators in the same way as the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework3.
EO data provides insights into the state and trends of natural ecosystems and the impact of human activities on them. EO is used for reporting to TNFD in the following ways:
Ecosystem mapping: Mapping forests, wetlands, and grasslands to assess the extent and distribution of different types of ecosystems and their vulnerability to human activities.
Ecosystem health monitoring: Monitoring the health and integrity of ecosystems over time by tracking changes in vegetation cover, water quality, and other indicators of ecosystem health. This information is used to assess the impact of human activities on ecosystems and identify areas of high risk or opportunity for conservation and restoration.
Impact assessments: Measuring the impact of human activities on ecosystems, such as deforestation, land-use change, and pollution. This information is used to quantify the extent and severity of these impacts and to support informed decision-making around mitigation and remediation strategies.
Low-code EO platforms like Earth Blox provide a faster route to developing and operationalising environmental reporting solutions in-house. They enable the handling and analysis of large and disparate EO datasets without having to rely on everything being customised or outsourced. This gives the sustainability or business intelligence unit full control over timelines and budgets.