ESA has been leading the way to a sustainable space sector since 2008. The Agency considers that sustainable development is an important challenge that should be supported at corporate level, and has been reporting on its activities in this sector every two years for almost a decade now.

2015-16 ESA Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report

The ESA Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report is published by the ESA coordination office on sustainable development, aiming at putting the topics of environmental and social responsibility at the forefront of the Agency’s concerns. 

Reporting about corporate responsibility and sustainability enables ESA to consider its environmental, social and economic impacts, and pushes for transparency and awareness regarding the risks and opportunities that ESA faces.

Over the years, this report has become a strong asset that has opened dialogues on sustainability and responsibility matters inside the space sector. Inspiring such interaction is a stepping stone towards moving the entire sector to more responsible practices, allowing synergies or exchanges to take place.

In a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) approach, studying, measuring and monitoring in order to remediate our environmental impacts (be it on Earth or in space) occurring due to our core business activity is of high level importance. This is a strong incentive for the Agency to drive activities to tackle, for instance, the impacts of REACH on the European space sector. In addition, ESA keeps embracing ways to reduce its environmental impacts: you can read in the report about the ESRIN solar energy initiative, the first electric taxi at ESTEC or the ESOC Bike day.   

Clean Space as an ESA initiative is also part of the Agency’s effort to lead the integration of environmental considerations within the space sector. Clean Space’s objective is to guarantee the future of space activities by protecting the environment, both on Earth and in space, leaving future generations with a space they can use. Read the full report here (“Clean Space: The right way is the clean way” pages 26-30)