(May 16, 2024 – New York City) – Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) today released Putting a CAP on Climate Change, its newest video in the Better Satellite World campaign. It explores how nations in the European Union are benefiting from the fusion of multi-orbit, public and private satellite data to meet ambitious goals for reducing GHG emissions from food production. Putting a CAP on Climate Change is made possible by funding from Planet with additional support from Artel,Comtech and RKF Engineering.
“Before we started this project, I had no idea how much modern agriculture contributes to carbon emissions and climate change,” said executive director and video producer Robert Bell. “The EU is trying to do something hugely ambitious in supporting farmers while driving reform in farming methods. We are proud to tell the story and share Planet’s contribution to the success of the program.”
You can watch the video on SSPI’s website and on Youtube.
Inside the Story
Agriculture produces 1/4 of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than transportation or industry. Fertilizer and animal waste don’t stay on the farm, but wash into rivers, lakes and oceans.
We need more sustainable ways to grow the food that gives us life. That’s what the European Union decided to do through changes to its Common Agricultural Policy or CAP. The CAP distributes more than €50 billion each year to support farmers and keep food affordable.
In 2019, the EU added a new goal: make European agriculture climate neutral by 2035. That would mean replacing traditional practices with sustainable ones across hundreds of millions of hectares of farmland. Is that even possible?
With the help of satellite data and imagery, it is. Using public satellite data from Europe’s Sentinel-2 mission, countries can capture visible changes in their farmers’ fields from planting to harvesting. But in some parts of Europe, governments found it hard to analyze the complicated layouts of small farms with just the available data. So, they turned to a service from Planet, a global Earth observation company.
About SSPI
Founded in 1983, Space & Satellite Professionals International (www.sspi.org) is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. The space and satellite business has never seen a time of greater experimentation and disruption than we see today. Investment is the fuel for transformation, but people are the engine. SSPI helps the industry attract, develop and retain the talented people it needs to keep the engine turning. People who connect through high-profile events and gain recognition from prestigious awards. People who rely on SSPI for a broader understanding of the industry as much as for individual networking and career mentoring. From young people seeking a career path to industry veterans with wisdom to share, SSPI connects them all.
Talent, investment and opportunity flow to industries that make a difference. SSPI is the only organization that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies making a better world. Those stories overturn misconceptions about the industry that hold it back. They inspire our people and attract new ones to the industry. They help justify investment and give new customers a reason to care about our services and products. Through the stories we tell and the people we serve, SSPI inspires the growth of the $1 trillion space economy of the future.
For More Information
Victoria Krisman
Communications Manager
Space & Satellite Professionals International
vkrisman@sspi.org