The Attributing and Verifying European and National Greenhouse gas and aerosol Emissions and Reconciliation with Statistical bottom-up estimates AVENGERS consortium unites a diverse group of experts to establish how top-down techniques can support the verification of national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and other regulated estimates of emissions and removals, in order to improve or supplement the methods/approaches currently used. In recognition of the need for a truly multi-actor approach the team represents experts in atmospheric inverse modelling and data assimilation, remote sensing, environmental monitoring and observation, terrestrial ecosystem modelling, policy and stakeholder interaction together with national inventory compilers. AVENGERS builds upon the heritage of previous EU projects, in particular CHE, CoCO2 and VERIFY and will advance the top-down approach for quantifying GHG and aerosol emissions, as well as reconcile and integrate approaches into a joint bottom-up and top-down framework. Based on the reconciliation AVENGERS will prepare good-practice guidelines for use of atmospheric inverse models as well as develop a Flexible Inversion Tool for Inventory Compilers (FIT-IC). Knowledge and outcomes are provided of use for policy and societal stakeholders and replicable outside of our chosen target area (Europe with a focus on Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and The Netherlands). The uniqueness of the consortium lies in the combination of the required scientific expertise with full partner presence of official reporting agencies from exemplary EU countries (Germany, Italy, Sweden, and The Netherlands) facilitating the transfer of knowledge to key international organizations (such as UNFCCC, WMO) in the field.

KEPLER is a multi-partner initiative, built around the operational European Ice Services and Copernicus information providers, to prepare a roadmap for Copernicus to deliver an improved European capacity for monitoring and forecasting the Polar Regions. Our motivation is to put the public and stakeholders at the centre of Copernicus. This follows the recommendations of the ‘Copernicus User Uptake’ review, and its 4 themes of: 1) Raising awareness for the Copernicus programme, 2) Informing and educating Copernicus users, 3) Engaging Copernicus users in public and private sector, and 4) Enabling access to Copernicus data and information. These well tailored themes form the core components of KEPLER. However, as the Polar Regions are changing, so too are the challenges and opportunities. Because of these shifts we have included two additional themes that encompass the evolving needs. These are needed to provide opportunities for better understanding the environment, research opportunities, establishing new industry sectors and startups, and importantly empowering citizens: 5) Identification of research gaps regarding integration/assimilation, and 6) Improved sea-ice mapping and forecasting. Through these 6 themes KEPLER aims to release the full potential of Polar Regions Earth Observation, including from ESA and EUMETSAT, by identifying and eliminating the barriers that impede the use of the tremendous resource that is Copernicus. This combines 2 key elements of the call: a) bringing together key European stakeholders and competent entities, and b) growing the Copernicus brand and user-base through providing enhanced scientific and technical support. Our objective with KEPLER is to provide a mechanism that enables the broad range of Polar Regions stakeholders to be equipped with the most accurate and relevant, environmental information so that they can seize the many benefits that Copernicus products generate for society and economy.

To support EU countries in assessing their progress for reaching their targets agreed in the Paris Agreement, the European Commission has clearly stated that an objective way to monitor anthropogenic CO2 emissions is needed. Such a capacity will deliver consistent and reliable information to support policy- and decision-making processes. To maintain Europe’s independence in this domain, it is imperative that the EU establishes an observation-based operational anthropogenic CO2 emissions Monitoring and Verification Support (CO2MVS) capacity as part of its Copernicus programme. The H2020 projects CHE and CoCO2 have already started the ramping-up of the CO2MVS prototype systems, so it can be implemented within the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) with the aim to be operational by 2026. The CORSO project will further support establishing the new CO2MVS addressing specific research & development questions. CORSO will deliver the capabilities at global and local scale to optimally use observations of co-emitted species using their emission ratios and uncertainties to better estimate anthropogenic CO2 emissions. CORSO will also assess the added-value of high-temporal resolution in-situ 14CO2 and APO observations in global and regional scale inversions and of satellite observations of soil moisture, LAI, SIF, and Biomass in the global CO2MVS system to better separate the impact of fossil fuel and biospheric fluxes on the atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The main long-term impact of CORSO will come through the delivery of documented methodologies, prototype systems, and recommendations, addressing the identified topics above, feeding into the ramping-up of the operational CO2MVS capacity and therefore ensuring a more comprehensive and accurate CAMS anthropogenic CO2 emission monitoring and verification support capacity.

Arctic PASSION will address the urgent need for coordinated and accessible Earth observation and information services for the Arctic region. Despite significant international effort in the past, elements of the current pan-Arctic observing network still remain fragmented, disconnected, or have other critical shortcomings. Our aim is to overcome these shortcomings and to advance towards a fully integrated pan-Arctic Observing System of Systems (pan-AOSS). Working under the SAON framework and in partnership with rights-and stakeholders, Arctic PASSION will strengthen international scientific observations, community-based monitoring, and Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge within an observing system. We will co-create an innovative pan-AOSS that truly represents the diverse range of needs of the different user-groups and decision makers. The resultant pan-AOSS will provide its users with unrestricted access to the latest-available Arctic observations, including better access to Copernicus Arctic products. It will empower Arctic communities, policy makers and industries to make knowledge-based decisions. These will benefit society and support the adaptation and sustainability of the objectives of the UNFCCC, the IPCC and associated protocols. Arctic PASSION will also fill critical gaps in observations and improve the archiving, handling and interoperability of Arctic data systems. It will use these improvements to develop and implement eight new EuroGEO Pilot Services that will support emergency preparedness, food security, and responses to climate and socio-economic changes in the Arctic. The combination of the work performed by Arctic PASSION will provide compelling evidence to GEO to update Arctic GEOSS’ Community activity’ to the higher level of GEO ‘Regional Initiative’. Our legacy will be a stronger European voice in Arctic observing, and a more inclusive pan-Arctic observing system that supports a prosperous, sustainable and environmentally secure Arctic.

The CO2 Human Emissions (CHE) project will coordinate efforts towards developing a European monitoring capacity for anthropogenic CO2 emissions. This challenging target is aligned with the European Commission’s stepwise approach for a requirement-driven integration of Earth observations, from remote sensing and in situ, with enhanced modelling capabilities for CO2 fossil fuel emissions, along with other natural and anthropogenic CO2 emissions and transport. The project will pursue a consolidated methodology for integrating the monitoring system components, as well as innovation for estimating fossil fuel CO2 fluxes. These include reconciling bottom-up and top-down constraints and handling systematic errors of satellite sensors. Earth observations from satellites will be combined with in situ CO2 observations and information from co-emitters or isotopes to support the attribution of fossil fuel emissions and uncertainty reduction. Methodological advances will include a representation of anthropogenic CO2 variability in space and time, responding to documented shortcomings and needs, and a carbon cycle data assimilation system extended to enable estimates of emission uncertainties. Strategies to separate anthropogenic CO2 emissions from biogenic fluxes at country to global scales using observations and models will be documented. CHE will support a large community by providing a library of realistic CO2 simulations from global to city scale to examine the capacity for monitoring future fossil fuel emissions and to adequately dimension space mission requirements. Community building will include direct collaboration across 22 European institutions, and communication and liaison with key European and international stakeholders. These coordination efforts will ensure the transfer of science and technology requirements and recommendations for strengthening existing assets with a view to developing an anthropogenic CO2 monitoring service.