In the last 50 years global population has doubled, and the global GDP has grown fourfold. In parallel, various environmental problems like water scarcity, climate change and depletion of critical natural resources have been growing at a high rate in part due to the impact of energy intensive industries. During this period, the annual global [...]
Shrinking of the polar ice cap allows for a longer and safer navigation season in polar waters. Since the 1970s, the Earth Observation (EO) satellites provide daily pan-Arctic surveys of the sea ice [1]. The image painted by the data leaves no doubt: the Arctic ice cap is shrinking and shrinking fast. September’s 2020 sea [...]
Cities all over the world are entering a new era. The concept of smart cities that encourages the digital transformation of many city sectors, has been gaining popularity globally. A smart city is defined as a city which merges traditional infrastructure with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in order to promote innovation and provide useful [...]
Insurance is a millennial practice for transferring or distributing risk, to protect from financial loss. As an Earth Observation (EO) market, Insurance is traditionally a small one, but an emerging approach called parametric insurance recently opens new opportunities for EO service providers. If traditional insurance products indemnify for an actual loss sustained, parametric insurance contracts offer a means [...]
Information technologies, telecommunication, robotics and in general, autonomous systems are set to transform many global industries. All these technologies currently have, and will have in the future, the greatest impact on large sectors of the economy. One such sector is undeniably the agricultural and food (agri-food) sector which is a dominant and vital component in [...]
Wildfires are a menace that gained much of public attention during recent years' summer seasons. Images of swaths of Australian bush ablaze in January and February 2020 caught public attention as brave firefighters were carrying koala bears from the inferno. The Australian fires were followed by an exceptionally disastrous fire-season in the Western United States. [...]
With consumer concern regarding plastic waste, fashion brands are attempting to reduce their environmental impact by moving to alternative materials. Mainstream fashion and beauty brands work to eliminate consumer packaging altogether in the quest to reduce their impact, and as only 9% of plastics are currently recycled, removing all but the most essential packaging seems [...]
Closing the loop of product lifecycles through greater recycling and re-use or resources can bring benefits for both the environment and the economy. It is the case, for example of recycled nutrients from organic waste or by-products (bio-based materials such as food waste, used water and animal by-products such as manure) that can be returned [...]
The significant increase in scientific data that occurred in the past decade - such as NASA’s archive growth from some hundred Terabytes in 2000 to 32 Petabytes of climate observation data, as well as ECMWF’s climate archive of 220 Petabytes-- marked a change in the workflow of researchers and programmers. Largely the data responsible for [...]
The ever-expanding platform of mobile connectivity, together with the emergence of 5G-enabled cyber-physical systems and advanced cellular IoT, are laying the foundation for the fourth industrial revolution that will transform the existing business structures and provide a basis for disruptive new business. Industry 4.0 arrives in time in a critical moment for climate action. IoT, [...]
