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WMO Press Conference: 'United in Science' 2024 report - 18 September 2024
Climate crisis: New technologies offer hope for global action, says UN weather agency
Amid renewed warnings from leading climate scientists that global warming could reach 3°C above pre-industrial levels this century, the head of the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) insisted on Wednesday that new technologies and AI offer the opportunity to implement the drastic action needed to resist the existential crisis.
“The science is clear: we are far off track from achieving global climate goals,” said Celeste Saulo, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General. Speaking to journalists in Geneva, she noted that 2023 was the warmest year on record “by a huge margin. Leading international data sets say that the first eight months of 2024 are also the warmest on record.”
Ms. Saulo’s warning coincided with the publication of the latest multi-agency United in Science annual report. Its release comes as huge wildfires rage across Latin America and Portugal, while central European countries battle deadly flooding in the wake of Storm Boris, with Italy now on high alert following mass evacuations in Poland, Czech Republic, Austria and Romania.
Despite progress made in mitigating global greenhouse gas emissions, “the emissions gap remains high”, the WMO-partnered report notes. It further warns that if there is no change to current policies, there is a 66 per cent probability that global warming will reach 3°C this century.
Despite the troubling clarity of science, the report offers grounds for hope. “When the Paris Agreement was adopted, greenhouse gas emissions were projected to increase by 16 per cent by 2030, relatively to 2015,” explained the WMO chief. “Now, that projected increase is three per cent. So, progress has been made, but we need to be much more ambitious. The gap between aspiration and reality is a glaring one.”
New technologies and innovation are potential game-changers
In a call for global and urgent action coinciding with the upcoming Summit of the Future at UN headquarters in New York on 22-23 September, the UN weather agency underscored the untapped potential of natural and social sciences, new technology and innovation to help countries develop, reduce their vulnerability to disaster and adapt to climate change.
Space-based Earth observations are part of the solutions highlighted in the report, as they are crucial for effective weather forecasting, climate prediction and environmental monitoring. “Satellites are improving our ability to monitor greenhouse gas emissions, which is crucial for informing our efforts to mitigate emissions and to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement,” explained Lauren Stuart, scientific coordinator at WMO.
Another example is “immersive technologies, which are bridging the digital and the physical worlds. And an example of this is what we call ‘digital twins’, which is basically a digital replication of the Earth.” Digital twins create a virtual real-world system to simulate how reality would respond in any given situation. The metaverse gather virtual worlds into an “integrative system” that provides immersive experiences from simulating flood and drought events to predicting water flow and impacts on land. These technologies enable experts to take decisions towards achieving the universally agreed Sustainable Development Goals.
Ms. Saulo insisted that technology alone will not be enough to solve climate change and disaster risk reduction as she urged all countries to share their expertise and experiences at the Summit of the Future. “I do trust in governments. I do trust in multilateralism. I do trust in the Summit of the Future and how this will help us address, use the technology for the better while controlling the negative impacts of technology,” she emphasized.
The UN weather agency chief underscored the need for a “transdisciplinary approach”, where a diversity of actors including scientists, policymakers, indigenous communities and civil society groups create solutions together. “Science should not be kept in a box for a few of us. Science should be the driving mechanism all around the world to really transform and give more opportunities for the generations to come.”
Ends.
Story: “'United in Science' report - WMO” – 18 September 2024
Speakers:
- Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
- Lauren Stuart, scientific coordinator at the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
TRT: 02’26”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 18 September 2024 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Geneva Press briefing
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley.
- Wide shot of the press conference room with speakers at the podium.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO): “The science is clear: we are far off track from achieving global climate goals. 2023 was the warmest year on record by a huge margin. Leading international data sets say that the first eight months of 2024 are also the warmest on record.”
- Medium shot of the podium with speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General: “When the Paris Agreement was adopted, greenhouse gas emissions were projected to increase by 16 per cent by 2030 relatively to 2015. Now, that projected increase is three per cent. So, progress has been made, but we need to be much more ambitious. The gap between aspiration and reality is a glaring one.”
- Medium shot of the speakers from the back and press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Lauren Stuart, scientific coordinator at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO): “Satellites are improving our ability to monitor greenhouse gas emissions, which is crucial for informing our efforts to mitigate emissions and to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. Another example we highlight is immersive technologies, which are really bridging the digital and the physical worlds. And an example of this is what we call ‘digital twins’, which is basically a digital replication of the earth.”
- Wide lateral shot: journalists at the press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General: “I do trust in governments. I do trust in multilateralism. I do trust in the Summit of the Future and how this will help us address, use the technology for the better while controlling the negative impacts of technology.”
- Wide shot of the press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General: “Science should not be kept in a box for a few of us. Science should be the driving mechanism all around the world to really transform and give more opportunities for the generations to come.”
- Various shots of the press conference room with journalists taking notes and cameraperson.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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