Arctic Region: Environmental and Economic Resilience
Arctic Region: Environmental and Economic Resilience supports companies and project teams developing space-enabled services to protect Arctic ecosystems and strengthen environmental and economic resilience.
Funder: European Space Agency
Due Dates: June 4, 2026 (Sub-call opens) | September 4, 2026 (Sub-call APQ deadline)
Funding Amounts: Proof-of-concept: eligible costs up to €600,000 over 9–12 months; pilots: case-by-case costs over 12–24 months; ESA co-funding depends on participant profile and national approval
Summary: Supports space-enabled services protecting Arctic ecosystems and strengthening environmental, climate, fisheries and aquaculture resilience.
Key Information: National-delegation funding authorisation is required; Denmark and Norway have conditional pre-authorisations.
Description
This European Space Agency (ESA) sub-call supports proof-of-concept studies and pilot projects developing space-enabled services for environmental protection and climate resilience in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. It operates through Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS), within the ACCESS programme. Its goal is to improve environmental monitoring, risk reduction, decision-making and sustainable resource management while protecting ecosystems and economically critical activities exposed to climate change, pollution and growing maritime pressure.
Relevant work includes pollution detection, climate-impact monitoring, fisheries and aquaculture resilience, food security, sustainable Arctic value chains and decision-support tools. Services can use satellite Earth observation to detect spills or algal blooms, satellite communications to relay coastal and aquaculture sensor data, and satellite positioning to geolocate and timestamp observations. ESA seeks user-driven, commercially viable and technically feasible operational services with demonstrable added value from space.
