Increased activity in space has enabled greater communication capabilities and other technological advancements through satellites, but with this increased activity comes increased pollution.

To study space law from a sustainability perspective, space lawyer Ioana Bratu (Amsterdam Law & Technology Institute) and environmental policy professor Philipp Pattberg (Amsterdam Sustainability Institute) founded the Space Law & Sustainability Center at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, a UNAI member institution. The center is the first of its kind to explore these issues using a multidisciplinary approach.

The number of space launches taking place from numerious countries continues to grow. This is useful for our increasingly digital lives on Earth since we rely on communication and navigation satellites, for example, but it also causes a problem: when space technology is no longer operational, there is no legally binding obligation for actors to remove debris from outer space. While some operational guidelines and standards exist, these are not sufficient. The pollution caused by debris leads to dangerous situations, Bratu notes: “The pieces of space debris can collide with still functioning space technology or, as recent incidents revealed, they may end up falling on Earth. In one case, a piece of debris smashed through a roof, narrowly missing a child living in the house. Moreover, there is growing concern on the environmental impact caused by debris when they re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, since they might increase climate change.”

Some space pollution occurs accidentally. Sometimes, however, it is also caused deliberately, for example by countries destroying their own satellites. “This can be a way to exercise power,” says Bratu. “The existing legislation does not offer sufficient protection.”
Space debris is not the only sustainability problem in space. The militarization of space, the commercialization of space travel and the deployment of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, also lead to legal and sustainability issues.

The Space Law & Sustainability Center brings together representatives from various disciplines for research, seminars and outreach. According to co-founder Pattberg, “The Space Law & Sustainability Center is a fantastic example of what the Amsterdam Sustainability Institute is all about: supporting interdisciplinary collaboration that makes a positive difference for society. While the issue of space debris might sound far away, at its core is the question of progress and responsibility that plays out across many current questions. How can we balance our human impulse for innovation and experimentation with an urgent need for responsibility and restraint in the context of (trans-)planetary crises?"

The center was launched on 20 June 2025 with a conference bringing together Dutch and international speakers to discuss multidisciplinary approaches to sustainability in space. United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs Director Aarti Holla-Maini congratulated VU Amsterdam on this achievement, emphasizing the importance of the topics addressed during the inaugural conference. 

 

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