COPERNICUS the European Parliament and of the Council the EUROPEAN EARTH OBSERVATION PROGRAMME

Annex 3 – Programme performance overview

LEGAL BASIS

Regulation (EU) No 377/2014 of COPERNICUS the European Parliament and of the Council THE EUROPEAN EARTH OBSERVATION PROGRAMME

MORE INFORMATION What is Copernicus? http://www.copernicus.eu Copernicus is the European system for monitoring the Earth. It is a civil, user-driven programme offering full, free-of- charge and open access to six Copernicus European information services: atmosphere monitoring, marine environment BUDGET ALLOCATION 2014-2020 monitoring, land monitoring, climate change, emergency management and security. The services are provided to EU, EUR 4 251.5 million national, regional and local institutions, and to actors in the private sector, researchers, NGOs and international organisations. The programme builds on the initiative on global monitoring for the environment and security launched in 1998. It aims at filling the gaps in European Earth observation capacities. The Copernicus services’ information products OVERALL EXECUTION are based on satellite Earth observation and in situ (non-space) data. The wealth of satellite data is provided from space (2014-2020) infrastructures, mainly the Sentinel satellite missions developed under the programme. These are complemented with other missions for specific needs. In situ networks are managed by Member States and international bodies, and are an 100% essential and integral part of Copernicus, used by the Copernicus services and the space component to produce quality information products. 86% The Copernicus services transform this wealth of satellite and in situ data into added-value information by processing and analysing the data. Datasets stretching back for years and decades are made comparable and searchable, thus ensuring the monitoring of changes and their impact; patterns are examined and models are used to create better forecasts, for example of the ocean and the atmosphere. Maps are created from imagery, features and, anomalies are identified and statistical information is extracted.

Specific objectives Payments Commitments  Delivering accurate and reliable data and information to Copernicus users, supplied on a long-term and sustainable basis to provide the services connected to the programme’s general objectives referred to in Evaluations/ Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 377/2014 and responding to the requirements of Copernicus’s core users. studies conducted  Providing sustainable and reliable access to space-borne data and information from an autonomous European Earth observation capacity. The interim evaluation of Copernicus  Providing a sustainable and reliable access to in situ data, relying, in particular, on existing capacities operated at was carried out in 2017: the European and national levels, and on global observation systems and networks. http://europa.eu/!GJ34Xr The impact assessment of the space programme of the EU and the European Union Agency for the Why is it necessary? Outlook for the 2021-2027 period Space Programme was adopted in The Copernicus programme ensures automous access to The EU space programme is building on the success of 2018: https://europa.eu/!XF34px global environmental knowledge and enhances the role its predecessor components, Copernicus and EGNOS- The assessment of Copernicus’s ex of the EU as a global actor. The EU Member States rely Galileo, which will be continued with more focus on ante benefits was adopted in 2017: on the coordinated provision of full, free and open Earth synergies with other EU policy areas. https://www.copernicus.eu/sites/def observation data and services, coordinated at EU level. For the next programming period, the EU's leadership in ault/files/2018-10/Copernicus-Ex- From an economic point of view, action at EU level also Ante-Final-Report_0_0.pdf allows for economies of scale, which benefit public space will be maintained and further enhanced. All spending. Copernicus (the former global monitoring for existing and new space activities are brought under the umbrella of a single EU space programme, which How is it implemented? environment and security programme) explicitly refers to maintains the existing infrastructure and services and many areas of EU legislation in the areas of the The Directorate-General for introduces a number of new features, such as fostering environment, civil protection, security, climate change, Defence Industry and Space is the a strong and innovative space industry in Europe, lead DG for the implementation of the internal market, transport, energy, cooperation with non-EU countries and humanitarian aid, and also covers maintaining Europe’s autonomous access to space and a the programme through indirect unified system of governance. management with entrusted aspects of space-debris surveillance and tracking. Copernicus data and information benefit various EU entities – the European policies, from agriculture to coastal surveillance, climate Organisation for the Exploitation change adaptation, the information technology sector of Meteorological Satellites, and education. Mercator Ocean, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, the European Border Budget implementation (in million EUR) and Coast Guard Agency, the European Environment Agency, the EXECUTED COMMITMENTS EXECUTED PAYMENTS European Maritime Safety Agency, the European Defence Agency, the European Union Satellite Centre 2018 and the European Space Agency – 2019 and through direct action. 2020

50 Annex 3 – Programme performance overview Key performance indicators

Baseline PROGRESS TO TARGET Target Results Assessment

Number of specific service 15 service components compared to a 6 > 100% 14 On track components target of 14 an index of 258 compared to a target of Market penetration 100 > 100% 140 On track 140 401 000 engaged users compared to a Engaged users 10 000 > 100% 20 000 On track target of 20 000

Space infrastructure 100% 8 8 satellites deployed out of 8 On track Number of services receiving in situ 100% 6 6 services out of 6 On track data

% of target achieved by the end of 2020

Where are we in the implementation?  In the 2014-2020 programming period, EUR 4 251 million was committed to the EU Earth observation programme, thus making full use of the appropriations made available and reaching 100% execution in terms of commitment appropriations. The payment appropriations made in the same period amounted to EUR 3 657 million, representing an 86% rate of payment execution so far.  To further facilitate the programme’s uptake and the EU’s digital implementation of ‘big data’ projects, a ‘cloudification’ of data is currently under assessment. Furthermore, the successful Copernicus Sentinel 6A satellite launch in 2020 allowed for further service reinforcements and for improved and high-precision sea-level measurements, with evident relevance for climate change observations.  The ground segment operations and the services faced some difficulties in operating remotely due to the COVID-19 crisis, but managed to continue their operational activities. Most of the teams involved in Copernicus space component operations across Europe are teleworking, and access to the operational centres has been minimised, impacting contingency management and the ability to react to potential anomalies in a timely manner.

Performance assessment  Copernicus has continued to deliver on its objectives. The monitoring capacities – i.e. operating satellites in orbit, ground infrastructure and in situ networks – have been successfully deployed. This ensures Europe’s autonomous access to environmental knowledge and its role as a key player at international level. The six core services (land, atmosphere, marine, climate change, emergency and security) are all operational and are providing the expected level of accurate and reliable geo-information, based on regular data quality assessment reporting by the space component, the in situ component and Copernicus services. Business continuity was ensured despite the crisis, with no interruptions. The quality of outputs is confirmed by the consistent increase in the number of registered users. To ease the distribution of services, capabilities have been enlarged through the provision of the data and information access services since 2018.  The 2019 Copernicus market report focused on the downstream market, i.e. all enterprises whose main business is to provide services based on Earth observation data. The estimated socioeconomic benefits in 2018 amounted to between EUR 125 million and EUR 150 million, up from EUR 54 million in 2015. They are expected to grow by an average annual growth rate of 15% up to the end of 2020. The report confirmed that 72% of these companies use Copernicus data, an increase by 6 percentage points compared to 2016.  Delivery on the objective of fostering the development of a competitive European space and services industry has shown positive results. Notably, thanks to the availability of Copernicus data and services, the annual growth rate of the EU Earth observation sector observed during 2016-2018 was 14%, compared to the 15% annual growth rate between 2013 and 2020 provided for by the original baseline scenario for the EU Earth observation sector.  The international dimension was enlarged through agreements signed with several countries, adding to the EU’s role in international forums and conferences, including various UN agencies. Users can choose the platform they want to use to access Copernicus data and Copernicus services’ information, using either the conventional data access infrastructure or the data and information access services. The Copernicus database is available through a free, full and open data policy.  Key challenges relate to global and political developments, such as climate change and security. Based on the areas for improvement that have been identified, the priorities for 2021-2027 are the continuity of services; new missions and the evolution of services; and the development of new activities in response to societal challenges, such as in support of the European Green Deal. The governance model proposed for 2021-2027 builds on the current framework while taking advantage, where appropriate, of synergies, notably as regards security. Improvements have been introduced into the design of the programme, relating to: (i) data distribution and access issues; (ii) the integration of Earth observation data into European data spaces, such as the green data space; (iii) digital transition; (iv) preparation for cloud paradigms; and (iv) an improved user and market-uptake strategy. Concrete examples of achievements

Over 330 million 35 million 95 38 million 8 400 000 185 60 gigabytes television viewers registered users access rapid action of data have data activations of on various the European data coronavirus Earth been products, the ‘Rapid platforms watched full, free and access points and observation downloaded by coming from mapping’ and daily air-quality Copernicus open information 60 000 registered users dashboard 400 000 eight ‘Risk and bulletins from satellites products are of the Copernicus economic registered Copernicus recovery around Europe were in provided under climate change service indicators users of the satellites, mapping’ on- based on the orbit in the Copernicus had access to more monitor the Copernicus were demand Copernicus 2020. land monitoring than 70 TB of quality- consequences of data access published in services in atmosphere service. controlled climate data the COVID-19 portals. 2020. 2020. monitoring service per day in 2020. pandemic. in 2020.