From Solid Earth Observations to Global Action: The Role of Federated Research Infrastructure

Supranational Research Infrastructures (RIs) play a crucial role in addressing the interconnected global challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, clean energy, and disaster risk reduction, which cannot be effectively tackled through fragmented national or regional approaches alone. Earth Observation (EO) data and technologies, from satellite imagery to long-term in-situ observations and experimental facilities, are essential for monitoring environmental change, informing adaptation strategies, and supporting National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the 2016 Paris Agreement. However, the scientific and societal value of these data remains sub-optimal without coordinated governance, interoperable standards, and synchronised investment cycles across infrastructures and continents. Their true potential can only be realized when access is free, open, and ubiquitous, and when data are interoperable across disciplines, domains, sectors and borders.As a community dedicated to advancing Open Science and providing democratic, interoperable access to geoscientific data, European Plate Observing System (EPOS), contributes to and benefits from the broader ENVironmental Research Infrastructure (ENVRI) ecosystem Together with its global partners AuScope (Australia), EarthScope (USA), and Earth Sciences NZ, EPOS is working towards broadening its regional scope to realise the collective grand vision of a federated Global Research Infrastructure (GRI) for solid Earth sciences. This collaboration, grounded in the FAIR and CARE principles, , Open Science, and global equity, illustrates how international RIs can link regional platforms into a cohesive, interoperable system that accelerates discovery and delivers actionable knowledge for societal resilience.

Building on experiences within ENVRI collaborations, we identified key priorities for advancing global cooperation:

• strengthening interoperability across heterogeneous scientific domains, through shared standards, protocols, and vocabularies, while respecting disciplinary specificities;
• supporting international coordination mechanisms, such as the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), as enablers of voluntary yet impactful collaboration;
• leveraging integrated EO and geoscientific data to support adaptation, sustainable resource management, and disaster prevention;
• ensuring long-term sustainability, encompassing not only funding, but also digital infrastructure, data preservation, high-performance computing, connectivity, and skills development;
• promoting inclusivity and equity, including support for lower-resourced regions and the application of CARE principles in Indigenous data governance.
• Advocating with one voice the support from institutions, not only in terms of funding and sustainability, but also in facilitating these processes by simplifying and harmonising the regulatory conditions for data sharing.

Early Career Researchers (ECRs) are central to the sustainability and future impact of global research infrastructures. As the primary drivers of tomorrow’s science, ECRs must be empowered to work across disciplines, infrastructures, and regions and encouraged to play an active role in modeling the future of the discipline. Dedicated training initiatives, such as the EPOS Summer School, play a vital role in equipping them with skills in inter- and cross-disciplinary research and foster a new generation of globally connected researchers.

Investing in these priorities means moving from a culture of reaction to one of prevention, enabling decision makers at all levels, from global leaders to local communities, to act on reliable, science-based evidence and to foster global resilience in the face of climate change.