Scoping Our Planet
Our understanding of the Earth system is limited by serious measurement and modelling gaps that lead to unacceptable uncertainties in weather and climate predictions. By cultivating frontier technologies, from measurement platforms to artificial intelligence models, we can fill these gaps and generate actionable knowledge to serve society in diverse and so far impossible ways.
What if we could close the gaps in our understanding of the Earth system?
Defined by our Programme Directors, opportunity spaces are areas we believe are likely to yield breakthroughs.
In Scoping Our Planet, we seek to unite frontier platforms, sensors, and AI models to revolutionise our understanding of our Earth system, maximise planetary resilience and revolutionise global business.
Beliefs
The core beliefs that underpin this opportunity space:
Earth measurement and modelling gaps exist in space and time → closing these gaps is crucial to unlock actionable information.
A dynamic interplay of frontier platforms, sensors, and models could parameterise the entire Earth system → the resulting forecasts will revolutionise global business and maximise planetary resilience.
Technological innovation alone is not enough; fragmentation of Earth system research, disconnected from the needs of industry, policymakers, and society, is severely impeding progress → transforming data into knowledge and accountability is vital for a future of human prosperity on a flourishing planet.
Programmes
To build a programme within an opportunity space, our Programme Directors direct the review, selection, and funding of a portfolio of projects.
In Scoping Our Planet, we seek to unite frontier platforms, sensors, and AI models to parameterise the Earth system. By linking richer observations with better modelling and new platform technologies, we can unlock trillions in economic value and maximise planetary resilience.
Forecasting Tipping Points
Backed by £81m, this programme combines expertise in observation and modelling with innovative sensing systems, to develop a proof-of-concept for an early warning system for climate tipping points. By confidently predicting when a system will tip, what the consequences may be, and how quickly that change may unfold, we’ll equip society with the information it needs to build resilience and accelerate proactive climate mitigation.
Enduring Atmospheric Platforms
Backed by £50m, this programme looks to create a resilient and sustainable platform layer between Earth and space. Success will be measured by a single, galvanising demonstration: keeping a platform aloft for one week while maintaining line-of-sight to a fixed ground point and continuously powering a 300W payload. If possible, this technical breakthrough will provide the physical backbone required for next-generation advanced communications, serving as a critical enabler for the projected £13–20 trillion annual economic potential of AI.
Future Climate Innovators
To ensure our UK climate science capability endures for decades, we are building a national pipeline of future talent. Partnering with Durham University Spaceflight through Launch 4 Change, we are connecting university rocketry teams with schools in areas with low participation in higher education. University students mentor secondary pupils to build climate-focused payloads for rockets, sparking interest in STEM careers while solving real programme challenges.
Undergraduates from 10 universities – including Bristol, Glasgow, and Queens Belfast – are connecting with local schools to mentor pupils, helping them build climate-focused payloads for the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge. By 2026, we will have established a direct pathway for young innovators to enter the field, proving that a career in climate engineering is within their reach.