Urgent need for climate services to mitigate intensifying climate threats, says World Meteorological Organization

There is an urgent need for climate services to support mitigation, adaptation and increase resilience as climate change intensifies, according to a multi-agency report produced by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Though there has been progress in provision of this climate information for decision-making in the past five years, big gaps remain and investment lags far behind needs, it said.

According to the State of Climate Services report 2024, one third of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) provide climate services at an ‘essential’ level, and nearly one third at an ‘advanced’ or ‘full’ level. Countries in Asia and Africa, in particular, have made strides in boosting their capacity thanks to targeted adaptation funding, it said.

Extremes becoming frequent

Climate services are the provision and use of climate data to assist decision-making. Stakeholders collaborate to support decision-making and make sure easy access to information for timely and inclusive action.

“On our journey towards sustainable development, we need to do more to turn climate science and climate information into actionable services, to make climate services more accessible and to use them more effectively. In the face of unprecedented environmental challenges, the development, delivery, and use of climate information to enable climate action has never been more crucial,” Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General, said in the report.

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According to the report, 2023 was the warmest year on record to date, with the unprecedented warmth continuing into 2024. Many climate extremes are becoming more frequent and intense. While weather and climate-related reported deaths are decreasing over time due to better early warnings and disaster risk management, economic losses are increasing.

In the period from 2020 to mid-2024, floods remained the most frequently reported disaster. However, heat-related hazards became the leading cause of deaths, accounting for 57 per cent of the total reported weather, water, and climate related-deaths globally.

$63 billion expenditure

Citing the data from the International Disaster Database EM-DAT, the report said storms resulted in the greatest economic losses, contributing to 59 per cent of the total.

Of the $63 billion being spent on climate adaptation, nearly a third goes towards climate-informed investments, with a small portion (estimated at about $4-5 billion) of that explicitly supporting climate services and early warning activities, according to the report.

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The report noted that despite an overall increase, continued investment is not necessarily translating into support for building the capacities of NMHSs. Stating that these are essential organisations for supporting climate action at the national and local level through provision of climate information services, it said Latin America and Caribbean, for instance, face a growing need for early warning services to deal with hazards such as forest fires and droughts.

Celeste Saulo said: “We need to make the necessary investments for a sustainable future. The cost of no action is several times higher than the cost of action. This is why it is essential to increase support for NMHSs for collecting better knowledge of the earth’s system and its changes, delivering fit-for-purpose climate services to support decision making, and developing early warning systems to protect communities from increasing natural hazards.”