The Secure World Foundation partnered with the British Embassy to hold an event looking at the applications of space technologies, such as satellites, to help track climate change on Earth and provide critical data for scientists and policy makers, how space will fit into 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) being held in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021, and the UK’s overall global leadership in climate action. The event also underscored the imperative to work through multilateral fora and international agreements to address this global priority.
Following welcome remarks from Acting CEO of the United Kingdom Space Agency, Ian Annett, panelists from across UK and US industry, government, and academia provided timely insights into this topic. Ray Fielding, Head of International Partnerships Programme at UKSA and John Remedios, Director of UK National Centre for Earth Observation, talked about the important role that space plays in monitoring climate change and provided examples of programs from their organizations. Briony Turner, Climate Services Development Manager at Space4Climate spoke about the upcoming COP26 and where space fits into this important international event. Ian Pilling, Director of Consulting Services from CGI provided insight on the role of industry in this topic while Gavin Schmidt, Senior Climate Advisor at NASA talked about how the UK and US have and will continue to collaborate in this area. Director of Space Applications Programs, Krystal Azelton, moderated the discussion.