Objectives of the Product

Municipalities and businesses across Europe face growing climate risks — floods, wildfires, droughts, heatwaves, cold snaps — but lack the tools to act. Current systems rely on outdated, fragmented data that cannot predict compound hazards or justify adaptation investments. Decision-makers struggle to translate satellite observations into actionable strategies, leaving communities and supply chains vulnerable.

EO-CARE solves this by combining near-real-time Earth Observation data from Copernicus satellites with AI-driven climate models to deliver hyperlocal risk assessments at 100-meter resolution. The platform enables municipalities to map heat islands, monitor coastal erosion, and simulate the cost-effectiveness of green infrastructure. Businesses can assess supply chain vulnerabilities and comply with climate disclosure frameworks like TCFD.

Unlike generic tools, EO-CARE integrates historical hazard registries with IPCC climate scenarios, predicting cascading events — such as drought-fueled wildfires triggering flash floods. Aligned with Portugal’s National Adaptation Roadmap (RNA 2100) and EU interoperability standards (ENTI), it provides transparent, evidence-based planning for resilient cities and climate-proof operations. EO-CARE transforms satellite data into decisions, bridging the gap between observation and action.

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Customers and their Needs

EO-CARE targets two primary customer segments: municipalities (local and regional governments) and businesses (SMEs and enterprises in sectors like agriculture, logistics, tourism, and infrastructure).

Municipalities need to protect citizens and infrastructure from escalating climate hazards but face fragmented data, limited technical capacity, and difficulty justifying adaptation budgets. They require tools to map vulnerabilities (e.g., urban heat islands, flood-prone areas), prioritise interventions, monitor implementation, and demonstrate compliance with national policies like Portugal’s RNA 2100 and EU frameworks.

Businesses struggle to assess physical climate risks to assets and supply chains, hindering compliance with financial disclosure requirements (TCFD, EU Taxonomy). They need transparent, data-driven insights to quantify disruption risks — such as crop failures, transport delays, or facility damage — and evaluate return-on-investment for resilience measures.

Both groups are involved through interviews, surveys, and workshops during the de-risking phase to validate requirements and co-design the platform. Municipalities, regional authorities, private companies and academia have supported, confirming demand for a unified, interoperable solution that translates Earth Observation data into cost-effective, evidence-based climate action.

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Targeted customer/users countries

Primary market: Portugal

Secondary markets (near-term expansion): Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and other Southern European countries facing similar climate risks (droughts, wildfires, coastal flooding, heatwaves).

Long-term vision: Pan-European deployment, with scalability to other ESA Member States and climate-vulnerable regions globally.

The de-risking phase focuses on Portuguese stakeholders (municipalities in Azores, Madeira, and mainland cities; regional authorities; SMEs; academic institutions), with validation pilots planned in these regions. The platform’s design — built on Copernicus data, IPCC/CORDEX climate models, and EU interoperability standards (ENTI) — ensures adaptability to other countries with minimal customisation.

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Product description

EO-CARE is a cloud-based decision-support platform that integrates Earth Observation data with AI-driven climate modeling to deliver hyperlocal (100m resolution) risk assessments and adaptation planning tools.

Core capabilities:

• Multi-hazard risk mapping: Real-time and scenario-based analysis of floods, droughts, wildfires, heatwaves, and coastal erosion using Copernicus services (Atmosphere, Climate Change, Land, Marine, Emergency) and Sentinel-1/-2/-3 satellites.

• Compound risk prediction: Federated AI/ML models forecast cascading events (e.g., drought → wildfire → flood), validated against historical disaster data.

• Cost-benefit analysis: Simulates ROI of adaptation measures (green infrastructure, early warning systems) using IPCC AR6 and CORDEX climate scenarios.

• TCFD-compliant reporting: Assesses supply chain vulnerabilities and generates climate disclosure reports for businesses.

• Monitoring dashboard: Tracks implementation of adaptation actions aligned with Portugal’s RNA 2100 and EU taxonomy.

• Innovation: Unlike static tools, EO-CARE fuses near-real-time EO data with physics-informed AI, achieving 10x finer resolution than existing platforms. ENTI-compliant APIs enable seamless integration with municipal GIS and financial systems.
• User interaction: Role-based web dashboards (municipalities view risk maps and investment scenarios; businesses access supply chain analytics).

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Added Value

EO-CARE delivers distinctive value over existing solutions by fusing Earth Observation (EO) and AI into a unified, interoperable platform:

1. Near-Real-Time & Hyperlocal: Unlike static tools with coarse resolution (10–100km), EO-CARE integrates live Copernicus data and downscaled climate models to deliver dynamic risk assessments at 100-meter resolution.
2. Compound Risk AI: While competitors track single hazards, EO-CARE’s federated AI predicts cascading events (drought → wildfire → flood), validated against historical disasters like Pedrógão Grande.
3. Cross-Sectoral: Dual dashboards serve both municipalities (RNA 2100 adaptation planning) and businesses (TCFD supply chain analysis), bridging the public-private silo gap.
4. Interoperable & ENTI-Compliant: Pre-built APIs ensure seamless integration with municipal GIS and financial systems, supporting Portugal’s smart-city standards (ENTI) and GDPR-compliant local data processing. 5. Modular Scalability: Validated in diverse regions (Azores, Madeira, and Pilot Cities), its modular architecture ensures scientific robustness and adaptability to other Mediterranean and European contexts, unlike rigid global frameworks.

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Current Status

The EO-CARE activity has successfully completed the proposal phase and secured a contract with ESA under the InCubed-2 programme.

The project is currently at the Kick-off stage, launching the De-risking Cycle (Phase 1). The Consortium — led by Get2C with Tech2C and Phair-Earth — is initiating the Feasibility Study to validate the system architecture, scientific models, and user requirements.

Work in progress:

• Requirement consolidation with key stakeholders (municipalities and businesses).

• Definition of the preliminary system concept and architecture (WP3100).

• Technical and scientific assessment of climate and AI models (WP2300).

Upcoming activities:

• Market and economic analysis (WP2100).

• Resources and needs mapping (WP4100).

Preparation of the De-risking Review (DRR) to confirm viability before proceeding to the full Product Development Cycle.