How is Europe leading in sustainability initiatives in space?

Prominent figures in the national government and the national space agency speculate on how emerging Portuguese entrepreneurs could help make sustainability initiatives in space a reality.

With the effects of climate change and the degradation of the natural world now truly being felt on a global scale, there may be a solution few have considered before. The opportunities for enterprise growth and sustainability initiatives in space are only now being taken seriously by business leaders and young entrepreneurs. Portugal is a nation at the forefront of this shift in thinking towards the stars.

Portugal: A country looking above and beyond

While not synonymous with space exploration, Portugal has a deeper influence than many think. The Portuguese Space Agency was founded in 2019, with the organisation immediately launching its Portugal Space 2030 strategy, a plan to make the country recognised as a global authority in the science and economics of space-Earth interactions.

Portugal’s minister for science, technology and higher education, ​​Elvira Fortunato, said 70-plus Portuguese companies and institutions connected to Portugal’s Space Agency and external partners contribute to current European space missions. This includes the continent’s first exploratory mission to Mercury.

These missions, such as measuring forecast biomass in critical green belts and polar ice cap deterioration, also have important contributions to assessing the effects of climate change. With more accurate data captured from above, innovative greentech companies in Portugal and beyond can more readily devise solutions to slowing the changes facing our planet.

Is space really where we can start saving the planet?

A shift of entrepreneurial energy to the space sector could help reverse our negative impact on Earth – an impact that Ricardo Conde, president of the Portuguese Space Agency, estimated is higher in the last century than humanity’s prior existence combined.

Many industry commentators say space offers both untapped natural resources that will be in demand in the future (such as water and oxygen) and the chance for global cooperation between countries and economies in tracking the rate of climate change across Earth.

Pierre-Philippe Mathieu, head of the Phi-lab Explore Office at the Portuguese Space Agency, summarised this ability: “From space you get this global perspective that goes beyond boundaries; there is globally consistent monitoring … Space gives us a tool to know what is happening on the planet so we can see patterns and predict them. It works for climate change; it works for other global challenges … This data can then be used by policymakers to make objective decisions.”

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Main image of a spacecraft surrounded by the twelve gold stars of the European Union: Web Summit