Abstract
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites now provide most the world’s climate-critical measurements—from methane plumes and forest loss to sea-level rise—making orbital sensing a functional component of Earth’s ecological infrastructure. Yet access to these data streams is governed less by environmental law than by intellectual property, licensing contracts, and national-security controls. This paper argues that climate governance has outgrown the legal regimes that underpin it: treaties such as the Paris Agreement presuppose continuous, affordable, and verifiable data but do not regulate the systems that generate it. We synthesize space law, sustainability law, and data-governance theory to diagnose three structural tensions: (1) privatization of climate intelligence and the enclosure of analytics; (2) geopolitical asymmetries that leave climate-vulnerable regions “data poor”; and (3) continuity risk where commercial exits or policy shifts can disrupt monitoring at scale. Because most legally consequential inferences are now produced by AI—classification, retrieval, and quantification models—the paper also proposes “AI due process” for climate-relevant analytics: provenance logging, model cards and datasheets, open benchmarks, uncertainty disclosure, independent audits, and contestability mechanisms. We evaluate five governance models—open-access, FRAND/compulsory licensing, a UN climate data trust with data/model escrow, a right to planetary data, and a Space Sustainability Contribution—showing how a blended approach can align incentives while guaranteeing equity and continuity. Reframing satellites and their AI pipelines as global public goods shift the legal center of gravity from ownership to obligation, enabling ecological governance that is scientifically verifiable, economically fair, and resilient over time.
Presenters
Edward KoellnerFellow (Project Coordinator), Land Use & Sustainable Development Law Clinic – West Virginia University College of Law, West Virginia University, West Virginia, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Economic, Social, and Cultural Context
KEYWORDS
Satellite Earth Observation, Space Law and Climate Governance, Right to Planetary Data, AI-Driven Climate Analytics, Global Public Goods and Data Equity, FRAND/Public-Interest Licensing Models
