Use case: reporting, finance and insurance
Monitoring the ESG impact of investment portfolios
Investors locate the physical assets behind each holding, such as plants, mines, plantations or properties, and observe them with satellite data over time. This shows deforestation, land-use change and activity at each site, independently of what the company reports. Aggregated across the portfolio, the asset indicators show where environmental risk and impact concentrate.
- Reference
- UC-24
- Technologies
- Challenge
- Emissions and ESG reporting
- Updated
- Published by
- LETO SPACE
01When you need it
The task
An investor sees a portfolio as holdings: shares, bonds, loans and funds. The environmental impact sits elsewhere, in the plants, mines, plantations and buildings behind those holdings. EUSPA notes that traditional methods frequently fall short in monitoring the environmental footprint of specific industries 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).
Satellite data adds an outside view. The University of Oxford's Spatial Finance Initiative calls this field spatial finance: the integration of geospatial data and analysis into financial theory and practice Source: Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, accessed 6 October 2026Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of OxfordThe Spatial Finance Initiativeaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens cgfi.ac.uk). Portfolio mapping, real asset monitoring, deforestation analysis and the verification of submitted disclosures are among the areas that ESA's business applications projects address in finance 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).
02Technology
How portfolio monitoring works
- Link holdings to assets. Each holding is linked to the physical assets it owns or finances. Open asset databases such as GeoAsset record location, ownership and capacity for high-impact industries, for example cement, steel, petrochemicals and pulp and paper Source: Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, accessed 6 October 2026Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of OxfordThe Spatial Finance Initiativeaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens cgfi.ac.uk).
- Observe each asset. Satellite data shows the state of each site and its surroundings, and how both change over time.
- Derive indicators. Per asset, for example forest loss within a radius or new land take, and aggregated per holding and for the whole portfolio.
- Compare with disclosures. Where an indicator contradicts what a company reports, the difference becomes a question for engagement or for the investment decision.
- area observed around each asset
03Data
Which data and satellites
- Land cover: the Copernicus CORINE inventory maps land cover and land use across Europe in 44 classes Source: Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, accessed 6 October 2026Copernicus Land Monitoring ServiceCORINE Land Coveraccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens land.copernicus.eu). It gives the context of a site.
- Optical imagery: Sentinel-2 records 13 spectral bands at up to 10 m resolution and revisits every five days with two satellites Source: European Space Agency (ESA), accessed 6 October 2026European Space Agency (ESA)Sentinel-2: Facts and figuresaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens esa.int). It shows vegetation, clearing and construction at a site.
- Radar imagery: Sentinel-1 supplies images in all weather, by day and night Source: European Space Agency (ESA), accessed 6 October 2026European Space Agency (ESA)Sentinel-1accessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens esa.int), which matters for assets in regions with frequent cloud cover.
- Asset data: locations, ownership and capacity of the assets, from your own records, from the companies or from open databases Source: Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, accessed 6 October 2026Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of OxfordThe Spatial Finance Initiativeaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens cgfi.ac.uk).
How these satellites work is explained in what Earth observation is.
04Deliverables
What you get
- A map of the portfolio's physical assets, linked to the holdings.
- Alerts when deforestation or land-use change occurs at or near an asset, from optical imagery revisited every five days at the equator Source: European Space Agency (ESA), accessed 6 October 2026European Space Agency (ESA)Sentinel-2: Facts and figuresaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens esa.int).
- Indicators per asset that support screening and 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).
- A basis for questions to investee companies where observations and disclosures differ.
05Limits
Limits
Limit 01
No location, no observation
Satellites observe places, not companies. Where the assets behind a holding are unknown, the method has nothing to observe. Open asset databases so far cover a selection of high-impact industries Source: Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, accessed 6 October 2026Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of OxfordThe Spatial Finance Initiativeaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens cgfi.ac.uk).
Limit 02
Clouds and resolution
Optical sensors are limited by clouds Source: UN-SPIDER (United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs), accessed 6 October 2026UN-SPIDER (United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs)Recommended Practice: Flood Mapping with Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Imagery and Digital Terrain Modelsaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens un-spider.org), and at 10 m resolution Source: European Space Agency (ESA), accessed 6 October 2026European Space Agency (ESA)Sentinel-2: Facts and figuresaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens esa.int) a satellite shows the extent of a site, not what happens inside its buildings.
Limit 03
An indicator is not an impact assessment
A satellite indicator shows a change on the ground. Whether it is material for a holding, and who is responsible for it, still needs analysis and, often, a conversation with the company.
06Next steps
How we help
In strategy and use cases we define which indicators matter for your portfolio and test whether the asset locations can be established. In requirements and procurement we specify the data and services and compare providers against your requirements.
To find providers, Spacegraph, our discovery platform, has an industry category "Insurance & Finance" and a use-case category "Carbon & ESG verification".
07Use cases
Related use cases
- Automatically enriching CSRD reportingThe same indicators, seen from the reporting company's side.
- Monitoring forest health and deforestationHow satellites detect forest damage and clearing.
- Assessing climate risk for properties and assetsFlood and wildfire risk for the assets in a portfolio.
- Satellite data in insurance and financeAll use cases for insurers, banks and investors.
Frequently asked questions
Q1How can investors monitor the environmental impact of assets in a portfolio?
By linking each holding to the physical assets it owns or finances and observing these assets from space. Portfolio mapping, real asset monitoring, deforestation analysis and the verification of disclosures are among the areas that ESA's business applications projects address in finance 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). Financial institutions also use Earth observation to screen investments 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).
Q2Does this work for listed companies, or only for real assets?
It works wherever the location of the assets is known. For direct real assets you have the locations. For listed companies they have to be collected; open asset databases such as GeoAsset at the University of Oxford record location, ownership and capacity for high-impact industries like cement and steel Source: Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, accessed 6 October 2026Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of OxfordThe Spatial Finance Initiativeaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens cgfi.ac.uk).
Q3How do we start?
Start with one part of the portfolio where environmental risk is concrete, for example holdings with plantations, mines or heavy industry, and check how many asset locations you can establish. Then test a small set of indicators against what the companies disclose. Our consulting overview shows the path from the problem to operation.
Sources (8)
- ESA Space Solutions: Space for finance and insurance (opens business.esa.int)
- EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 1 (opens euspa.europa.eu)
- EUSPA EO and GNSS Market Report, Issue 2, 2024 (opens euspa.europa.eu)
- The Spatial Finance Initiative (opens cgfi.ac.uk)
- Sentinel-2: Facts and figures (opens esa.int)
- Sentinel-1 (opens esa.int)
- CORINE Land Cover (opens land.copernicus.eu)
- Recommended Practice: Flood Mapping with Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Imagery and Digital Terrain Models (opens un-spider.org)
Contact
Which part of your portfolio do you want to see from space first?
Prefer to talk?
Tell one of our experts about your project. Together we work out where you stand, whether satellite data and AI can help and what a sensible next step would be.
Both calls are free of charge and take place online. You choose a date in our booking calendar.