STEM Learning - Climate Detectives

ESERO-UK invites teachers and teams of students to team up and join the ESA Climate Detectives and Climate Detectives Kids school projects. Registration is open from September each year.

ESA Climate Detectives is a competition that is open for students from the ages of 8 to 19. Teams of students, supported by their teacher, are called to make a difference by identifying a climate problem, investigating it by using available Earth Observation data or taking measurements on the ground, and then proposing a way to help reduce the problem.

The ESA Climate Detectives Kids is a challenge where teams of pupils up to 12 years old complete activities to earn badges. This category is ideal for beginners and is non-competitive.

Register to take part here:   Register to take part

Climate Detectives

Supporting resources

Supporting resources for teachers are available here, including a quick guide that has suggestions for projects.

Phase 1 – Identify a local climate problem: 9 September 2024 – 31 Jan 2025

In this phase, teams have to identify a climate problem that they would like to investigate as a team of “Climate Detectives” and submit their investigation plan. Following submissions, scientists in the field of Earth observation and climate will review the investigation plans and give their feedback to all teams participating in the project.

Please note: feedback from scientists will be provided on an ongoing basis, within a few weeks of submission. Once the team has received feedback, they can progress to Phase 2 and do not need to wait until 31 Jan 2025.

Register and submit the investigation plan on the ESA Climate Detectives platform here.

Phase 2 – Investigate the climate problem: 31 Jan 2025 – 28 March 2025

In this phase, students will collect, analyse and compare data to draw conclusions about the problem they are investigating. Students are encouraged to use a range of data sources, including local measurements and using tools such as the EO Browser.

Please note: Once you have completed Phase 2, you can go straight to Phase 3 and don't need to wait until 28 March 2025.

Phase 3 – Share your results and make a difference: 28 March 2025 – 4 April 2025

Based on the results of their investigations, students will decide on the actions they want to take to help address the climate problem. Teams will submit their projects on the ESA Climate Detectives website and share their work with the ESA Climate Detectives community.

Submit your Phase 3 report on the ESA Climate Detectives platform here, by 4 April 2025.

At the end of the project, all teams that share their results will receive a digital certificate of participation from ESA. There will be a project gallery on the ESA Climate Detectives website and a final online event for all participating teams.

Please note that the closing date for submissions may be subject to change due to the date of the European event for national winners.

European Learning and Celebration Event

ESERO-UK will select a winning team based on the Phase 3 submissions.

The winning UK team will be invited to attend the learning and celebration event at ESA's ESRIN facility in Italy, which takes place 12-13 May 2025. Learn more about the event here.