The context in which COP29 begins in Baku, Azerbaijan on November 11 is critical but not hopeless. A UN climate report released just days before the Conference confirmed that global average temperature rise is approaching 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, which would put the world on course for a catastrophic rise...
The appeal comes as global leaders prepare to gather for the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Baku next month, amid repeated dire warnings about the human cost of ignoring the existential crisis from UN Secretary-General António Guterres and others. Echoing the UN chief’s longstanding appeals, WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett...
“We need urgent and ambitious action now to support sustainable development, climate action and disaster risk reduction. The decisions we make today could be the difference between a future breakdown or a breakthrough to a better world,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. Echoing the stark assessment of the latest UN-partnered...
“Almost everybody on Earth, basically nine out of 10 people breathe air that is essentially unfit for purpose,” said Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer at WMO. “This means that it is air that exceeds the [UN World Health Organization] WHO guideline limits and contains a high level of pollutants with low...
Speaking in Geneva, WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis said that a new altitude record for the freezing point had been set a day earlier, climbing to 5,298 metres (17,381 feet) – well above Europe’s very highest peaks including Mont Blanc, at 4,811 metres (15,784 feet). WMO figures show that this is 115...
Melting ice and glaciers and rising sea levels threaten more socio-economic disruption in future, according to the agency’s latest State of the Climate report for the region. The mean temperature over Asia for 2022 was the second or third warmest on record and was about 0.72 degrees Celsius (°C) above...
According to the UN weather agency, June witnessed the warmest global average temperature on record, and heatwaves have persisted into early July. Torrential rains and floods have resulted in dozens of fatalities and affected millions in the United States, Japan, China and India. ‘New normal’ “The extreme weather – an...
The US National Hurricane Center acts as WMO’s Regional Specialized Meteorological hub, based in Miami, Florida. There is a 40 per cent chance of a near-normal season, 30 per cent possibility of an “above-normal season”, and also 30 per cent of a below-normal season, according to forecasters with the Climate...
This investment is critical, including to ensure that energy infrastructure is resilient to climate-related shocks, and to harness the power of energy generated from sources such as the sun and wind, the UN agency said. In this regard, WMO is stepping up its activities to promote tailored weather and climate...
UN chief António Guterres convened an Advisory Panel of top UN agency officials which met for the first time to inject more “political, technical and financial clout to ensure that Early Warnings for All becomes a reality for everyone, everywhere”, said WMO in a press release. Tuesday’s panel included development...
On the heels of recent news reports about Canada and the United States shooting down several flying objects, including an alleged Chinese ‘spy balloon’, inside their borders, WMO points out that weather balloons provide just a tiny fraction of the millions of observations gathered worldwide daily. On Thursday, US President...
The clear need to do much more to cut greenhouse gas emissions was again underscored throughout events in 2022, said the UN weather agency, advocating for strengthened climate change adaptation, including universal access to early warnings. “This year we have faced several dramatic weather disasters which claimed far too many...