Welcome to the Global Space Conference on Climate Change

The Global Space Conference on Climate Change (GLOC 2023) will be held in Oslo from the 23rd to the 25th of May.

GLOC 2023 is organized by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and hosted by the Norwegian Space Agency.

The conference will address various topics in relation to space and climate change, with a specific focus on:

• Climate change impacts on the environment.

• Applications and services driven by climate change.

• Impacts of a changing climate on policy and law.

• Commercial opportunities created by a changing climate.

• Present and future international collaboration on space missions related to climate change.

• Social, communications, economic and cultural dimensions of environmental change.

The first conference of its kind, GLOC 2023 is designed to encourage the sharing of programmatic, technical and policy information, as well as collaborative solutions, challenges, lessons learnt, and paths forward for all nations.

The theme for the conference is Fire and Ice – Space for Climate Action, focusing on concrete climate change solutions for both polar and tropical regions.

Will be opened by Norway’s Minister of Climate and the Environment

GLOC 2023 will be opened by Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s Minister of Climate and the Environment. He is also the keynote speaker on the first day of the conference and will take part in the panel discussions and round table event that day.

Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s Minister of Climate and the Environment. Photo: C. Stuedal

Bjørnar Selnes Skjæran, Norway’s Minister of Fisheries, will also be participating at GLOC 2023, joining other Ministers, high-level representatives from NGOs and many others in the debate.

Moreover, the heads of various space agencies, including Josef Aschbacher from ESA, Philippe Baptiste from CNES, Richard Spinrad from NOAA, as well as other leaders of space agencies on all continents will be taking part in the conference.

The international space industry will be represented by companies such as Planet, OHB, Ariane Group and many more.

Concrete solutions for polar and tropical regions

- GLOC 2023 aims to gather policy makers from different nations and high-level representatives of space organizations, research and industry for a dialogue on how the many innovative technological solutions and services of the space sector may be utilized for policies and decisions regarding climate change, says Christian Hauglie-Hanssen, Director General of the Norwegian Space Agency.

Christian Hauglie-Hanssen, Director General of the Norwegian Space Agency. Foto: NOSA

According to his experience the awareness of what the space sector may have to offer of solutions and services for climate change and mitigation is little known among policy makers, other industrial sectors, the press and the general public.

-We really want this to be a different type of conference where we discuss solutions and policies in connection with climate change and the mitigation of its effects. In particular how the space sector may contribute to this, and how that can best be communicated to policy makers and the general public the world over, says Hauglie-Hanssen.

Continuation at COP 28

The conference’s program committee consists of members from both the IAF and the Norwegian Space Agency.

-Their task is to shape the conference content with relevant panel discussions, presentations, technical sessions, professional moderators and high-level speakers that may contribute to fruitful discussions of solutions to climate change and its effects. We hope this will be the result of the conference, says Hauglie-Hanssen.

GLOC 2023 aims to gather about 700 to 800 participants in Oslo on the 23rd to the 25th of May.

-Our further goal is that the discussions and solutions that take place during GLOC 2023 will be continued and even brought forward at the UN conference COP 28 in Dubai in November later this year, Hauglie-Hanssen concludes.

GLOC 2023 will be held at the SAS Radisson Blu Hotel in the center of Oslo. A pre-conference reception will be arranged in Oslo City Hall and a gala dinner at Villa Grande at Bygdøy, with various Norwegian cultural elements.

GLOC 2023 official web site:  www.GLOC2023.org

#GLOC2023

For more information, please contact

Marianne Moen – Head of Communications – Norwegian Space Agency – marianne.moen @spaceagency.no