Playbook: adopting Space infrastructure for climate resilience in 90 days

The global Earth observation market reached $6.8 billion in 2024 and is projected to exceed $14.2 billion by 2030, according to Euroconsult's annual space economy report. Yet despite this explosive growth, fewer than 12% of enterprises with climate commitments have integrated satellite-derived data into their resilience planning. This gap represents both a vulnerability and an opportunity: organizations that successfully adopt space infrastructure within the next 90 days will gain a significant competitive advantage in climate risk management, while those that delay face mounting exposure to physical climate risks that ground-based monitoring simply cannot address.

This playbook provides a structured 90-day implementation roadmap for sustainability leads seeking to leverage Earth observation satellites, GNSS positioning systems, and geospatial analytics platforms for climate resilience. The approach draws from documented deployments across UK enterprises in 2024-2025, with benchmark KPIs that distinguish genuine capability from vendor marketing.

Why It Matters

Climate-related physical risks cost global businesses an estimated $313 billion in 2024, according to Munich Re's NatCatSERVICE database—a 27% increase from the prior year. Traditional risk assessment methods, built on historical climate patterns and periodic site surveys, systematically underestimate emerging threats. The UK Climate Change Committee's 2024 Progress Report found that 68% of critical infrastructure operators were using climate projections more than five years old, creating a dangerous lag between risk reality and organizational awareness.

Space-based infrastructure addresses this gap through three mechanisms: continuous monitoring at scales impossible for ground networks, detection of early warning signals invisible to surface sensors, and global coverage that captures supply chain vulnerabilities regardless of location. The European Space Agency's Climate Change Initiative has demonstrated that satellite observations can detect vegetation stress 3-6 weeks before ground-based agricultural monitoring, flood conditions 48-72 hours earlier than traditional gauging networks, and coastal erosion patterns that accumulate over years but manifest in catastrophic failures.

For UK-based organizations specifically, the regulatory environment accelerates urgency. The Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) requirements, now mandatory for large UK companies and financial institutions, explicitly call for scenario analysis incorporating physical climate risks. The Financial Conduct Authority's 2024 guidance emphasized that adequate disclosure requires "forward-looking physical risk assessment drawing on best available climate science"—a standard increasingly interpreted to include satellite-derived climate intelligence.

The commercial case is equally compelling. A 2024 study by the Satellite Applications Catapult found that UK organizations using Earth observation for climate risk management achieved an average 340% return on investment over three years, with payback periods averaging 14 months. The primary value drivers were avoided losses from better-timed operational decisions, reduced insurance premiums through demonstrated risk visibility, and enhanced access to climate-contingent financing.

Key Concepts

Earth Observation (EO) Constellations

Modern Earth observation relies on constellations—coordinated groups of satellites providing regular revisit coverage of the Earth's surface. The European Copernicus programme, with its Sentinel satellite family, offers free, open-access data at resolutions from 10 meters (Sentinel-2 optical) to 5x20 meters (Sentinel-1 radar). Commercial providers like Planet Labs operate constellations capturing the entire Earth's landmass daily at 3-5 meter resolution.

For climate resilience applications, the key parameters are:

Parameter	Minimum for Climate Use	Optimal Range
Revisit Frequency	Weekly	Daily to 2-3 days
Spatial Resolution	30 meters	3-10 meters
Spectral Bands	4 (RGBN)	10+ multispectral
Archive Depth	5 years	10+ years
Latency (data availability)	<48 hours	<12 hours

Geospatial Analytics Platforms

Raw satellite imagery requires significant processing to yield actionable climate intelligence. Analytics platforms perform atmospheric correction, cloud masking, time-series analysis, and machine learning classification to extract meaningful indicators. Leading platforms include Google Earth Engine (research-oriented, steep learning curve), Planet's Sentinel Hub (commercial focus, API-first), and Descartes Labs (enterprise analytics, proprietary algorithms).

GNSS for Ground Truth and Infrastructure Monitoring

Global Navigation Satellite Systems—GPS (US), Galileo (EU), GLONASS (Russia), and BeiDou (China)—provide positioning accuracy from 1-3 meters (standard) to sub-centimeter (with correction services). For climate resilience, GNSS enables precise monitoring of infrastructure deformation, coastal subsidence, and glacier movement. The UK's Ordnance Survey operates the OS Net correction network, providing real-time kinematic positioning across Great Britain.

Climate Data Records and Essential Climate Variables

The Global Climate Observing System defines 54 Essential Climate Variables (ECVs)—physical, chemical, or biological variables critically contributing to climate system characterization. Satellite-derived ECVs include sea surface temperature, land surface temperature, soil moisture, sea level, glacier extent, and vegetation indices. Organizations should map their risk exposure to specific ECVs and procure data accordingly.

90-Day Implementation Roadmap

Phase 1: Foundation (Days 1-30)

Week 1-2: Stakeholder Alignment and Risk Mapping

Convene cross-functional team including sustainability, operations, risk, and IT representatives
Map physical climate risks across owned assets, facilities, and Tier 1 suppliers
Identify 3-5 priority use cases where space data addresses current visibility gaps
Establish executive sponsorship and governance structure

Week 3-4: Data Landscape Assessment

Inventory existing geospatial data sources and subscriptions
Evaluate data infrastructure readiness (cloud storage, processing capacity, GIS tools)
Assess internal capabilities versus external service requirements
Define data governance policies for satellite-derived intelligence

Key Milestone: Completed risk-to-ECV mapping document and signed-off use case prioritization

Phase 2: Proof of Concept (Days 31-60)

Week 5-6: Vendor Selection and Pilot Scoping

Issue RFI to 3-5 qualified EO analytics providers
Define success criteria and KPIs for pilot phase
Negotiate pilot terms (typically 30-60 days, limited geographic scope)
Establish data access credentials and integration pathways

Week 7-8: Pilot Execution

Deploy selected solution against priority use case
Run parallel analysis with existing monitoring methods
Document accuracy, latency, and actionability compared to current state
Gather user feedback from operational stakeholders

Key Milestone: Pilot completion report with quantified performance metrics and go/no-go recommendation

Phase 3: Operational Integration (Days 61-90)

Week 9-10: Production Deployment

Finalize vendor contracts and data licensing agreements
Integrate satellite data feeds into existing risk management workflows
Configure alerting thresholds and notification pathways
Train operational staff on data interpretation and response protocols

Week 11-12: Optimization and Scaling

Refine alert thresholds based on initial operational experience
Extend coverage to additional use cases or geographic regions
Establish monitoring dashboards for ongoing performance tracking
Document lessons learned and update standard operating procedures

Key Milestone: Operational system processing live data with documented decision-support outcomes

What's Working

Integrated Early Warning Systems

Organizations achieving the highest ROI combine multiple satellite data streams into unified early warning platforms. Thames Water's 2024 deployment, developed with CGI and the UK Space Agency, integrates Sentinel-1 radar for soil moisture monitoring with Sentinel-2 optical data for vegetation stress detection, providing 21-day advance warning of sewer network stress from rainfall events. The system reduced emergency response costs by £4.2 million in its first year of operation.

The key success factor is not the sophistication of individual data sources but the integration architecture: automated data fusion, calibrated against historical events, with direct connection to operational response systems. Organizations that treat satellite data as "interesting context" rather than operational intelligence consistently underperform.

Cloud-Native Analytics Adoption

The shift to cloud-native geospatial processing dramatically reduces time-to-value. Traditional approaches required downloading terabytes of satellite imagery, provisioning local storage and compute, and developing custom processing pipelines. Modern platforms bring computation to the data, enabling analysis of decades of archive imagery in hours rather than months.

The UK Met Office's Climate Data Store, launched in partnership with the Copernicus Climate Change Service, demonstrates this pattern: researchers and enterprises access harmonized climate datasets via API, perform analysis on remote infrastructure, and retrieve only the results they need. Early adopters report 80-90% reductions in data preparation time compared to traditional workflows.

Public-Private Data Fusion

Top performers combine commercial satellite data with freely available public sources, optimizing cost while maintaining capability. The European Space Agency estimates that commercial data costs can be reduced by 40-60% through strategic use of Copernicus open data, reserving commercial acquisitions for specific high-resolution requirements or rapid-revisit scenarios.

What's Not Working

Standalone Dashboard Deployments

Organizations frequently procure elegant visualization platforms without connecting them to decision-making processes. A 2024 survey by the Royal Geographical Society found that 57% of UK enterprises with satellite-based climate monitoring reported "limited" or "no" integration with risk management workflows. These deployments generate impressive demonstrations for executive audiences but fail to change operational behavior.

The root cause is procurement-driven adoption: sustainability teams champion tools that enhance reporting capabilities without engaging operations teams who own the response systems. Successful deployments work backward from decision points: what action would we take, when, if we knew X?

Overreliance on Raw Resolution

Many organizations fixate on spatial resolution as the primary procurement criterion, assuming that higher resolution always provides better insight. In practice, climate resilience applications often require temporal density over spatial detail. A 10-meter resolution image every two weeks may be less valuable than 30-meter imagery every two days for tracking vegetation stress, flood evolution, or fire progression.

The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) emphasizes that "fit-for-purpose" should drive data specification, not marketing claims. Their 2024 user requirements analysis found that 73% of climate applications were adequately served by freely available Copernicus data when properly processed.

Underestimating Ground Truth Requirements

Satellite data requires calibration against ground measurements to achieve operational reliability. Organizations that skip this step—relying solely on vendor-provided accuracy claims—experience systematic biases that undermine decision confidence. The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology recommends maintaining at least 30 ground reference points per region of interest for vegetation and land cover applications, with higher densities for precision agriculture or infrastructure monitoring.

Key Players

Established Leaders

Airbus Defence and Space — Operates the Pléiades and SPOT constellations, providing high-resolution optical imagery with guaranteed access for UK government and commercial customers. Their OneAtlas platform offers cloud-based analytics for infrastructure and agriculture applications.
Maxar Technologies — The global leader in very-high-resolution satellite imagery (30cm), with the WorldView constellation and Precision3D digital elevation products. Their Secura platform serves UK defence and intelligence clients.
Planet Labs — Operates the largest Earth observation constellation with 200+ satellites, capturing daily global imagery. Their Planetary Variables products deliver analysis-ready climate indicators.
European Space Agency (ESA) — Through the Copernicus programme, provides free, open-access satellite data from the Sentinel constellation. The ESA Climate Change Initiative delivers validated Essential Climate Variable datasets.

Emerging Startups

ICEYE — Finnish company operating the world's largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation, enabling all-weather, day-night monitoring. Their flood monitoring service provides sub-daily updates during extreme events.
Spire Global — Specializes in radio occultation satellites for atmospheric profiling, with growing applications in weather forecasting and climate monitoring. Headquartered in the US with significant UK operations.
Satellogic — Argentine-origin company deploying hyperspectral imaging satellites, enabling crop health and environmental monitoring beyond standard multispectral capabilities.
Astrosat — UK-based startup providing automated change detection and analytics, focused on infrastructure monitoring and natural capital assessment.

Key Investors & Funders

UK Space Agency — Operates the Earth Observation Climate Information Service (EOCIS) and provides grant funding for commercial EO applications through the National Space Strategy.
Seraphim Space Investment Trust — London-listed investment trust focused on space technology, with portfolio companies spanning Earth observation, satellite communications, and space infrastructure.
European Investment Bank — Major funder of Copernicus infrastructure and commercial EO ventures, with €1.2 billion committed to space-related investments 2020-2025.
Satellite Applications Catapult — UK innovation centre providing co-investment and technology translation support for EO applications, with specific programmes targeting climate resilience.

Examples

Network Rail Asset Monitoring: Network Rail deployed Sentinel-1 radar interferometry across the UK rail network in 2023-2024, monitoring ground subsidence and embankment stability at 6-day intervals. The system detected 23 emerging failure points in its first year, enabling preventive intervention before service disruption. Implementation required 67 days from contract signature to operational handover, with ongoing costs of approximately £180,000 annually covering 40,000 km of track. Key success factor: tight integration with existing asset management databases, enabling satellite alerts to automatically trigger inspection workflows.

Tesco Supply Chain Visibility: Tesco partnered with Planet Labs and Cervest to monitor climate risks across their global agricultural supply chain, covering 300+ primary suppliers across 40 countries. The platform combines daily satellite imagery with AI-driven risk scoring, providing 30-day advance warning of yield disruptions from drought, flooding, or heat stress. Tesco reported £12 million in avoided procurement costs during the 2024 European drought by early-switching to alternative suppliers. The 90-day implementation focused initially on five highest-risk commodities before expanding to full portfolio coverage.

Scottish Water Catchment Management: Scottish Water integrated Copernicus Land Monitoring Service data with their operational systems to track peatland condition and diffuse pollution risk across 32 catchment areas. The satellite-derived vegetation indices correlate with water treatment costs, enabling predictive resource allocation. Implementation achieved payback within 8 months through optimized chemical treatment costs. The project, delivered through the UK Space Agency SPRINT programme, demonstrated that smaller organizations can access enterprise-grade capabilities through government-supported pathways.

Action Checklist

Map your top 10 physical climate risks to specific Essential Climate Variables that satellites can monitor
Audit current data infrastructure for cloud storage capacity, GIS software, and API integration capabilities
Register for Copernicus Data Space access (free) and download sample imagery for your key asset locations
Identify 2-3 commercial EO analytics vendors with proven UK delivery experience and request technical briefings
Define quantified success criteria for a 30-day pilot: accuracy threshold, latency requirement, integration timeline
Allocate budget for ground truth collection—plan for 5-10% of total programme cost
Assign a named integration owner responsible for connecting satellite insights to operational decision-making
Schedule executive briefing at Day 60 to decide go/no-go on production deployment
Document lessons learned and develop business case for Phase 2 expansion before Day 90

FAQ

Q: What budget should I allocate for a meaningful pilot? A: Expect £25,000-75,000 for a 60-day pilot covering a single use case with limited geographic scope. This includes data licensing (£5,000-15,000), analytics platform access (£10,000-30,000), and internal staff time for integration and evaluation. Production deployments typically run £100,000-500,000 annually depending on coverage area and data refresh frequency. Costs decrease substantially if you leverage free Copernicus data with commercial analytics layers.

Q: Do I need internal geospatial expertise to succeed? A: For pilots, no—modern analytics platforms abstract most technical complexity. For production deployments, plan to develop or hire at least one individual with GIS and remote sensing fundamentals who can translate between vendor capabilities and operational requirements. The UK Space Agency's Space for Smarter Government programme offers free training resources for public sector and regulated industries.

Q: How do I justify ROI to sceptical executives? A: Frame the business case around avoided losses and improved decision timing, not technology capabilities. Document current costs of late detection (emergency response, insurance claims, service disruption) and quantify the improvement from satellite-derived early warning. The Satellite Applications Catapult maintains a database of documented UK case studies with verified financial outcomes that can support your internal business case.

Q: What data security considerations apply to satellite imagery? A: Satellite imagery of UK critical infrastructure may be subject to security classification depending on resolution and context. Commercial providers are regulated by the Outer Space Act 1986 and typically pre-clear imagery for commercial distribution. For sensitive sites, work with your security team to establish appropriate handling protocols. Most climate resilience applications use moderate-resolution data without security implications.

Q: How quickly can satellite data detect emerging climate events? A: Detection timelines vary by hazard type. Flood extent mapping is available within 24-48 hours of satellite overpass using radar sensors that penetrate cloud cover. Vegetation stress from drought or heat is detectable 2-4 weeks before visible impacts. Infrastructure deformation requires time-series analysis over months. Set realistic expectations based on the specific hazard and satellite revisit frequency for your region.

Sources

Euroconsult, "Earth Observation Value Chain 2024: Market Prospects to 2030," September 2024
Munich Re NatCatSERVICE, "Natural Disaster Losses 2024: Global Overview," January 2025
UK Climate Change Committee, "2024 Progress Report to Parliament," June 2024
Satellite Applications Catapult, "UK Earth Observation Market Intelligence Report," November 2024
European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative, "10 Years of Satellite Climate Data," 2024
Financial Conduct Authority, "Climate-related Financial Disclosures: Supervisory Statement," March 2024
European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), "User Requirements for Climate Applications," 2024