Funding Opportunity: Cultural Change for Green Transition

The World Bank and UNESCO have indicated that education is the only way to raise awareness on climate change and its emergency. Only when they are aware of the consequences of their actions, will citizens adapt their behaviours accordingly. Additionally, research demonstrated that less educated people are more vulnerable to the risks of climate change. Therefore, the global initiative of greening education partnership encourages the role of education in tackling the climate crisis. Greening the school curriculum provides students with the right tools and solutions to show resilience towards the climate change risks. It also helps them develop green skills and become qualified for green jobs. Education is not only crucial for students, but it also aims to sensitise citizens, governments, cities and communities. Hence, the greening education partnership is deployed around three further pillars:

• greening curricula
• greening teacher training and education systems’ capacities
• greening communities

The scope of this Kick-Start theme is to evaluate the technical feasibility and commercial viability of space-based innovations that trigger cultural change by raising awareness on climate change and providing mitigating actions. The overarching goal is to contribute to the development of a sustainable society and prepare the next generation to face tomorrow’s challenges. Space-based solutions offer a unique opportunity to educate and raise awareness about the climate emergency, to share tools and knowledge, and to forecast weather catastrophes.

Topics of Relevance

• Cultural Change for Climate Awareness
  • Raising awareness about the effects of climate change is necessary to initiate the behavioural change required in the population to promote actions aimed at the green transition.
• Cultural Change for Smart and Green Cities
  • Smart cities can bring benefits to citizens and businesses by reducing their carbon footprint and transforming traditional processes and services. Moving the green agenda forward requires adequate, timely and transparent sharing of information, as well as creating support for and avoiding resistance to policies that have strong and differentiated impacts across socio-economic groups, territories and generations.
• Cultural Change for Green Education
  • How societies succeed in mitigating and adapting to climate change depends largely on the behaviour of human beings acting both individually and collectively. Many studies have found a positive relationship between education and a wide range of pro-environmental behaviours, including consumption patterns, conservation, and lifestyle choices.

Funding Information

• Funding will be provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) for 6-month studies called ‘Kick-Starts’, which can lead onto larger scale Demonstration Projects.
• Kick-Starts are funded at 75% by ESA for a maximum of €75K per contract. Proposed services must use satellite data or space-based technologies.

Value of Space

Satellite navigation, communications and Earth observation all have important roles to play in improving cultural change:

• Satellite Earth Observation (SatEO)
  • SatEO can provide the global environmental and climate data which are needed to create a digital replica/digital twin of a specific phenomenon, and which can be used to enhance awareness and support education in matters related to the green transition. SatEO maps can underpin services to engage citizens for example in adopting satEO data to formulate new educational materials and courses on the topics of climate change and sustainability, satellite imagery and meteorological data can be beneficial. They can also help services assisting in the integration of climate education in schools. SatEO data can be combined to create 3-D simulation on platforms with mixed-reality for public participation in urban and public space design.
• Satellite Communications (Satcom)
  • Satcom provides connectivity for data transmission when terrestrial solution is not available. Satcom can also be helpful for capability building of educators and learners based in remote locations with little or no connectivity and in the case of e-participation of citizens.
• Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
  • GNSS can provide localised information for services that help integrating climate education in schools, but also services to create innovative educational & awareness content targeting effect of climate change, climate adaptation and sustainability.

What they look for?

• Kick-Start activities explore the business opportunity and the technical viability of new applications and services that exploit one or more space assets (e.g. Satellite Communications, Satellite Navigation, Earth Observation, Human Spaceflight Technology).
• This call for Kick-Start activities is dedicated to the theme ‘Cultural Change for Green Transition’, which means that the call is open to companies that intend to develop space-enabled applications and services supporting the trigger in cultural change by raising awareness on climate change and providing mitigating actions.

For more information, visit European Space Agency.