Living Planet Symposium opens in Vienna
ESA's Living Planet Symposium, one of the world's leading Earth observation conferences, opened today in Vienna.
More than 6500 participants from almost 120 countries signed up to attend the event. With more than 4200 scientific presentations and posters, the symposium provides a forum and meeting point for scientists, academics and space industry representatives, as well as students and citizens.
The event takes place every three years and this year the focus is ?from observation to climate action and sustainability for Earth'.
Held in the Austrian capital over five days from today to 27 June, participants are taking part in discussions on how we can work together in the fields of Earth science and with the Earth observation industry to ensure robust data and promote effective climate action to address the environmental crisis, with presentations also on new trends in Earth observation.
In his opening address, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher?highlighted the vital role Earth observation plays in taking the pulse of our planet. He said, "This is a key year for Europe's future in space and on Earth ? a moment to recognise the achievements of 50 years of ESA while?charting a bold and ambitious path forward, with decisive steps?to be taken at the ESA Council Meeting at Ministerial Level in November."
And ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, underscored how ESA's groundbreaking missions, developed through strong European and international partnerships, are redefining our relationship with the planet by delivering the clarity and confidence needed to inspire global climate solutions and protect the Earth's fragile systems.
One groundbreaking mission is ESA's Biomass, a science satellite that is already bringing us data about the amount of carbon contained in the world's forests. The first images from this mission were unveiled this morning during the plenary session.
The opening address also included a video address from the President of Austria, Alexander van der Bellen, who said, "The climate crisis poses an existential threat to our planet and for future generations.
"Space technology enables us to make evidence-based decisions. This is especially important in Austria where satellite data provides critical insights for our forests, rivers and cities. We are proud that Austrian companies are contributing to space innovation and would like to thank them and ESA for advancing science in service of our planet."
There was also a video address from EU Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius and Austria's Federal Minister for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure.
Representatives of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Innovation, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, ECMWF, IPCC, Eumetsat, Nordic Bildung and ETH Zurich also gave talks.
The opening session, chaired by Grégoire Lory of Euronews, focused on several themes, including a milestone for ESA.
As ESA celebrates its 50th year, looking back on some of the leading missions in the fields of meteorology and Earth science, it also looks forward to the next Ministerial Council, which will take place in November this year, and where ESA's plans for Earth Observation will be outlined as part of its forward-looking Strategy 2040.
Partnership and long-standing relationships were also discussed as speakers recognised the importance of services such as Copernicus, which delivers 350 terabytes of data each day.
Nurturing new space companies and start-ups will also be crucial to ensure that world-class Earth observation data continues to be used by decision-makers and that it also reaches end-users and citizens.
Overall, Earth observation data has an increasingly important role to play in many aspects of society. This is seen in not just in science ? more than 4000 scientific publications referenced ESA's Earth observation datasets in 2024 ? but also in fields including meteorology, development, agriculture, disaster resilience and of course climate policy.
The Living Planet Symposium 2025 is organised with the support of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency and Austria's Federal Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology. It is held at the Austria Centre Vienna.
Follow ESA's Earth observation page for more news from Living Planet Symposium 2025.
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