Advancing optical earth observation for EU policies: needs, opportunities, recommendations

The effective translation of Earth observation (EO) measurements into actionable information for agriculture and land monitoring is critical to support policy implementation on climate, environment, and sustainable development. However, this translation remains challenging, as EO evolves from an awareness-raising instrument into an operational tool for evidence-based policymaking. To address this gap, we systematically link, for the first time, European Union (EU) land-related agricultural and environmental policies to EO-derived variables that can be generated from enhanced optical satellites expected in the next decade. We present a comprehensive framework for assessing the technology readiness levels (TRLs) of EO variables used to map, monitor, and manage crop, forest, soil, mineral, and water resources, thereby facilitating policy implementation and compliance. Upcoming Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment (CHIME), and the Sentinel-2 Next Generation (S2NG) missions, both developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), will deliver substantial technological advancements for high-level EO-based products, enabling applications such as plant nitrogen and soil organic carbon content (SOC) estimation, species identification, and water quality characterization. Realizing the full potential of CHIME and S2NG for agricultural and environmental policy implementation will require advancing current products from prototype stages (TRL 4–6) to full operational readiness (TRL 9) through robust science-policy interfaces. Within such interfaces, we recommend exploiting existing (hyperspectral) EO data and time series, strengthening in-situ observations for robust model development and validation, and testing synergies between systems. Co-design of tailored products with policymakers is then essential to refine algorithms and align EO outputs with regulatory needs and scales. Upcoming spaceborne imaging spectroscopy and enhanced multispectral data streams thus have the potential to become game-changers and indispensable tools for EU policy implementation, providing greater traceability of key environmental and agricultural processes.