As the impacts of climate change intensify, the need to strengthen resilience is becoming increasingly urgent. However, establishing whether action is effectively reducing vulnerability and risk remains a challenge. This challenge lies at the heart of the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)* under the Paris Agreement.
From 23 to 25 June 2026, experts and stakeholders from academia, space agencies, policy organisations, intergovernmental agencies and the private sector gathered at ESA’s ECSAT facility in Harwell, UK, for a workshop organised by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. The workshop aimed to identify GGA indicators for which satellite observation could provide direct input for country-level reporting, while also exploring how Earth observation could support climate adaptation more broadly.
A central takeaway from the workshop was that Earth observation can make a major contribution to adaptation tracking, but delivers the greatest value when combined with other forms of evidence, including in-situ measurements, modelling, administrative and socio-economic data, and local and traditional knowledge.
*What is the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)?
The Paris Agreement’s Article 7.1 outlines the GGA of “enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change, with a view to contributing to sustainable development and ensuring an adequate adaptation response in the context of the temperature goal”.
The GGA Framework was agreed at COP28 and comprises 11 global targets to help guide adaptation efforts. Four targets focus on the policy cycle – one of them is Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning – and the remaining focus on specific sectors (Water, Food & Agriculture, Health, Ecosystems & Biodiversity, Infrastructure & Human Settlements, Poverty Eradication, and Cultural Heritage). Adaptation indicators to track progress towards the GGA framework were agreed at COP30 and will continue to be developed and refined by governments.
Key findings from Harwell
Discussions in Harwell highlighted both the potential and the limits of Earth observation in this context. Participants agreed that only a limited number of GGA indicators can be directly supported by satellite data. However, given that adaptation looks different everywhere but poses a global challenge, Earth observation can make a wider contribution by helping to characterise the climate hazards that drive adaptation needs, from drought and flooding to urban heat. The strongest near-term opportunities were seen in areas where mature, operational and traceable datasets already exist and can be linked to established reporting frameworks and planning processes. Participants also underlined that the synthesis and assessment of existing data should come before the development of new observation methods.
The workshop built on the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites’ Global Stocktake Strategy, which identifies adaptation as a priority topic and calls for closer collaboration between space agencies and the climate policy community.
The event also helped clarify where further research can make the greatest contribution to adaptation tracking. Through its Climate Change Initiative, ESA has developed high-quality satellite climate data records spanning several decades. These records already support the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Resilience represents interconnection across multiple systems; ESA’s satellite climate records provide an important foundation for new research aimed at addressing remaining gaps in adaptation tracking.
New ESA Climate Change Initiative projects to support adaptation tracking
Alongside the workshop, the ESA presented three upcoming research projects under the Climate Change Initiative. All three projects directly support GGA indicators through satellite-based monitoring:
- GGA-TrackEO: Tracking Climate Adaptation with Earth Observations – The project aims to evaluate the existing data, indicators and tools in supporting the climate adaptation cycle. The case studies cover drought monitoring in the Valencian Community, urban heat in Brisbane and coastal flooding in Cape Town.
- MICAM: Monitoring the Impact of Climate Adaptation Measures in agriculture, forests and cities – MICAM quantifies the effectiveness of climate change adaptation measures in practice. Case studies include sustainable forest management in the Iberian Peninsula and Austria, agricultural water management in Morocco and Italy, and the urban heat island effect in Milan, Vitoria and London.
- EO4NBS: Using Earth Observations for measuring the impacts of Nature-Based Solutions – As part of the project, scientists are developing urban-climate indicators based on Earth observation and downscaled climate data. It prioritises variables that are relevant to nature-based solutions, heat exposure and health.