The European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), has released a new report, “Where Sensing Makes Sense – Opportunities for Advancing Europe’s Priorities through Earth observation”. The study presents quantitative analysis and qualitative insights on how Earth observation (EO) currently supports Europe’s policy objectives — and where further opportunities lie.
The study examines more than 300 national policies and reviews over 600 Earth observation-based projects across six domains: energy, agriculture and food, digital transition, peace and security, climate resilience and emergency management, and Insurance. The findings highlight a clear conclusion: Earth observation is already fundamental to Europe’s policy landscape, yet significant untapped potential remains in several priority sectors and use cases.
“How to increase the role of Earth observation at the service of countries’ priorities in Europe? We asked ourselves this question and came up with this report providing quantitative assessments and qualitative insights across a few key domains. We started from the policy angle and then looked into Earth Observation solutions. We believe this is a solid start, but only a first step. In parallel, we published A Policy Vision for Earth observation and started collaborating with policymakers at the national and European level. We observed some clear opportunities for European countries to further benefit from Earth observation and we’ll do our best to support all relevant stakeholders to seize them”
Key Findings
- Climate and agriculture offer strong foundations with clear opportunities
for further impact, particularly in areas such as biodiversity, water management and sustainable farming. - Energy policies rarely reference Earth observation, despite substantial opportunities in network monitoring, renewables deployment and grid planning.
- Digital transition strategies rely on Earth observation as a trusted source of data but currently underutilise Earth observation’s potential for infrastructure planning and connectivity.
- Diplomacy and natural resources emerge as important clusters, where Earth observation can provide trusted, verifiable information for treaty monitoring, international cooperation and detecting illegal resource exploitation.
- Peace and security applications are growing, especially for natural resource protection and crisis response, but remain underacknowledged in policy.
- The insurance market increasingly depends on Earth observation for modelling and assessing climate and operational risks.
“Earth observation has become indispensable for understanding and addressing pressing environmental, economic and security challenges at European level. This analysis highlights both the impact already delivered by our missions and the significant opportunities still to be explored. As we look to the future of Earth observation systems, aligning programme design with policy needs will be key. This dossier represents a valuable contribution to ensuring that Europe’s space capabilities continue to deliver benefits for citizens and decision-makers.”
The dossier arrives at a time when Europe is reassessing how future Earth observation missions should be designed and how data can be leveraged as part of solutions at hand of policymakers. This report informs the previously published report, “A policy vision for Earth observation”, published in June 2025, developed by ESPI and ESA crucially relying on the outcomes of a policy workshop held at the Royal Society, London, in April 2025.
The report also illustrates a growing need to transform Earth observation from a primarily monitoring tool into a full-stack, real-time enabler of economic activity, public services and policy delivery.