COP28 Special Edition: Interview With ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher | Airbus to Build Next Generation Satellites | ESA to Provide UNEP With Satellite Infrastructure to Monitor Deforestation
Getting things done at COP28: Watch my interview with the European Space Agency Director-General Josef Aschbacher where we do a 360 degree on climate action and ESA
Check our past coverage on climate change:
Loss and Damage Fund Explained
Botswana Trade Minister on the Loss and Damage Fund
Columbia University Professor on the Right to Repair
Minister of Environment Marina Silva on Forests, at UNGA
Former UK Ambassador John Clarke on Food Systems
Brazil’s Compliance with Environmental Standards and Trade
Bourgogne: UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Joint UN SDG Fund
UN in China and the Sustainable Development Goals
UN Habitat: Neglected Tropical Diseases and Climate Change
UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change Impact of Human Rights
Treaty of the High Seas is Now Legally Binding
Climate Change: OTEC Systems for SIDS
“ESA puts its satellite infrastructure at the disposal of UNEP, using Earth observation data for different applications. There are actually four key areas of cooperation that we agreed to support from our side: environmental protection and pollution monitoring, then sustainable development, restoration of ecosystems, and science and innovation for environmental sustainability.”
ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher
European Space Agency
Getting Things Done at COP28
Interview with the ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher
Space travel is the stuff of dreams for most of us. I have dreamed of space missions since I organized a press briefing at the engineering department of Florida International University, featuring a former NASA astronaut, Dr. Bernard Harris, who came to speak to young high-school students at FIU‘s Summer program, in 2007.
I was taking a break from journalism, but followed around Jose Pagliery, one of the reporters that attended the press briefing, who was then with the Miami Herald (now with The Daily Beast) as he interviewed Harris on what was like to see the Earth from space, wear a clunky space suit, and why younger generations should care.
While most of us will never circumvent the Earth from space, at least not in these coming decades, we nevertheless use devices everyday and trust our weather forecasters with the recommendation of whether we should wear our rain boots over the weekend, using information that is gathered by satellites. About 80% of the information we rely on comes from space satellites, including ESA and other providers.
This week I interviewed the European Space Agency Director General, Josef Aschbacher, on his participation at COP28 and what is in store for 2024, from developing next generation satellites with Airbus to working with the United Nations Environment Program, to creating a coalition to address space debris when decommissioning satellites no longer operational, to pledging during COP28, alongside other heads of space agencies, to further support climate action.
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