Industries: insurance and finance
Satellite data in insurance and finance
Insurers use satellite data to model the exposure of insured assets to floods, droughts and storms, to map the footprint of an event and check claims, and to build index-based products. Banks and investors use it to screen investments, follow commodity production and support ESG reporting. The use cases below show what is possible and where the limits are.
- Terrain, river and parcels
- Flooded valley floor, up to the first contour line
- Buildings inside the flood extent
- Damage reported outside the flood extent
01Use cases
What satellite data can do in insurance and finance
Insurers and financial institutions work with risk, and much of that risk sits in a place: a property, a field, a port or a production site.
- UC-18
Climate risk assessment for properties with satellite data
How satellite data, hazard maps and climate projections rate the exposure of buildings to flooding, wildfire and ground movement, and where the limits are.
- UC-25
Insurance claims verification with satellite data
How insurers use satellite images to map a flood or storm footprint, check claims against it, plan loss adjusters, and where site visits remain necessary.
- UC-24
ESG monitoring of investment portfolios with satellite data
How investors use satellite data to monitor the physical assets behind a portfolio: locations, land-use change, deforestation and the check of disclosures.
02Products
How to find solutions in insurance and finance
Spacegraph, the discovery platform we develop, lists providers of space-enabled solutions in a marketplace with an industry category for insurance and finance and a use-case category for carbon and ESG verification.
03Consulting
Talk to us about your use case
If you have a concrete question in underwriting, claims handling or portfolio management, we take it from the first assessment to a pilot with defined success criteria.
04Topics
Insurance and finance
T-01
Insurance
In agricultural insurance, index-based crop and livestock products are growing: their share of global agricultural insurance premiums rose from 3% in 2009 to 12% in recent years, and Earth observation supplies both historical and near real-time data for them. Index-based solutions combine these data with other sources, such as weather data or data collected by loss adjusters in the field Source: EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 2024EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EUSPA EO and GNSS Market Report, Issue 2, 20242024Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu). Beyond agriculture, ESA lists the identification of damage after an event and the modelling of floods, droughts and wind among the topics of its insurance projects Source: European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space Solutions, accessed 6 October 2026European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space SolutionsESA Space Solutions: Space for finance and insuranceaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens business.esa.int).
T-02
Banking and investment
In commodity trading, Earth observation adds information on production sites and the transport of goods, which supports forecasts of annual yields, crop prices and inventories of raw materials and oil. GNSS time-stamps transactions in banking and at stock exchanges Source: EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 26 May 2026EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 126 May 2026Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu). ESA lists portfolio mapping, real asset monitoring, deforestation analysis and the verification of submitted disclosures among the topics of its finance projects Source: European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space Solutions, accessed 6 October 2026European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space SolutionsESA Space Solutions: Space for finance and insuranceaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens business.esa.int).
05Limits
When satellite data is not the answer in insurance and finance
Limit 01
Detail of a single object
Satellite imagery shows the extent of an event across a whole region. The damage to a single building or vehicle often still needs a loss adjuster, a drone or a photo from the customer.
Limit 02
Archives and revisit
A risk model needs long time series, and a claims check needs an image close to the event. Whether both exist for your region depends on the sensor and on the weather at the time.
Limit 03
Models need validation
An index or a risk score derived from satellite data is a model. It needs validation against your own loss data before it drives pricing or payouts.
Frequently asked questions
Q1How can satellite data help insurance companies?
Earth observation supports three insurance tasks: risk modelling, which predicts how likely and how severe a weather event is; the event footprint, which shows the area affected for damage assessment and claims management; and the production of indices for parametric products Source: EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 26 May 2026EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 126 May 2026Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu). ESA adds the validation of claims after natural disasters and a better view of climate and nature-related risk Source: European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space Solutions, accessed 6 October 2026European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space SolutionsESA Space Solutions: Space for finance and insuranceaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens business.esa.int). Our use cases on assessing climate risk for properties and verifying claims after natural hazard events go into detail.
Q2Which problems does Earth observation solve in insurance and finance, and which does GNSS solve?
Earth observation answers questions about what is on the ground and how it changes: the exposure of a site, the extent of a flood, activity at production sites or deforestation in a supply chain. GNSS answers questions about position and time: it time-stamps financial transactions, and GNSS-enabled drones gather data before and after an event for claims assessment Source: EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 26 May 2026EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 126 May 2026Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu). Satellite navigation also tracks insured goods, and satellite communication enables remote payments and secure communications Source: European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space Solutions, accessed 6 October 2026European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space SolutionsESA Space Solutions: Space for finance and insuranceaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens business.esa.int).
Q3How can banks and investors use satellite data?
Financial institutions use Earth observation to screen investments for risk, to follow the production and shipping of goods at key locations, which helps traders anticipate supply and demand, and to provide indicators for ESG reporting Source: EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 26 May 2026EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 126 May 2026Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu). Our use case on monitoring the ESG impact of investment portfolios shows how this can work for a portfolio.
Q4How do we start with a first use case?
Start with one decision that has an owner, for example pricing for one line of business or claims handling in one region, and the data you already use for it. Then check which satellite-based service adds what your current data cannot, and test it in a pilot with KPIs agreed in advance before you commit to operation. Our consulting overview shows the path from the problem to operation.
Contact
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