WMO: Invest in Resilience as Climate Risks Intensify
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has officially launched a new financing mechanism to safeguard the critical weather forecasting backbone, which underpins trillions of dollars in economic value and supports global stability.
- WMO launches Weather, Climate and Water Intelligence Commons
- Zurich Climate Week hears compelling case for investment
- Target is to mobilize at least US$ 100 million over the next five years
- Stronger weather forecasting backbone needed to meet growing demands and challenges
- Weather risk translates into economic risk
The WMO Weather, Climate and Water Intelligence Commons (“WMO Commons”) seeks to mobilize at least 100 million US dollars over 5 years to finance global weather, climate and water monitoring, prediction, and service delivery systems.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo presented the WMO Commons in a keynote speech to a high-level roundtable event with financial, business and government leaders during Climate Week Zurich. She made a compelling investment case for strengthening the weather forecasting and observing network to build resilience to growing climate risks and keep the world protected and prepared.
According to Swiss Re, in 2024 alone, weather and climate-related related catastrophes caused US$ 318 billion in global losses, of which only 43% were insured. Extreme weather is the top long-term risk over the next ten-year- period, according to the World Economic Forum.
“Climate risk is increasingly expressed through weather. And weather risk is rapidly translating into economic risk,” she said.
Around the world, storms, floods, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires are disrupting operations, affecting supply chains, reducing labour productivity, straining health systems, increasing insurance losses and weakening public finances, she said.
The good news is that science has advanced dramatically, enabling investors to make more informed and smarter business and risk management decisions.
Forecast skill continue to improve. Today’s five-day forecast is as accurate as a three-day forecast 20 years ago, while one to four day forecast accuracy has improved by around 10–20%.
“Forecasts do not stop storms or droughts from happening. But they turn surprise into preparedness. And preparedness protects lives, assets and growth. Weather and climate intelligence today is not simply useful information. It is economic intelligence,” Celeste Saulo told chief executive officers and top decision-makers at the event hosted by Building Bridges.
- It transforms uncertainty into lead time.
- It allows businesses to reroute logistics.
- It helps insurers price risk more accurately.
- It supports governments in protecting citizens and infrastructure.
- It enables investors to distinguish resilience from vulnerability.
Forecasting backbone
Every day, more than 100 million observations flow from satellites, ocean buoys, weather stations, and radiosondes into a global processing system.
WMO coordinates this supply chain: setting the technical standards that make data interoperable across borders, fostering the international collaboration that keeps information flowing, and ensuring that a weather observation made in one country can meaningfully inform a forecast in another.
This global system depends on a chain of shared investment, cooperation and stewardship. Despite its critical value, it remains underfunded and under pressure.
Many National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in developing countries lack capacity to deliver reliable operational forecasts and warnings. And this has a knock-on impact beyond national borders because when one part weakens, it weakens all countries.
Studies estimate that absent or imperfect forecasts lead to annual inefficiencies of up to 230 billion US dollars in cereal agriculture, US$ 20 billion in energy, and US $9 billion in disaster risk management.
Collective insurance policy
The WMO Commons addresses this coordination failure. By pooling resources, standardising data, and strengthening the global observing network, it reduces volatility while improving forecast accuracy, providing robust data to markets, and lowering risk across sectors.
It seeks to provide a collective insurance policy for the system. Built on principles of solidarity and shared benefit, it helps safeguard the supply chain against disruption, distributes risk across the global community, and ensures that the system remains robust, inclusive, and fit for purpose in a changing world.
Climate risk starts with data. And the strength of that data depends on a global system we all rely on, but too few invest in. The WMO Commons is about changing that.
Closing Critical Gaps
The WMO Commons leverages Member State contributions by mobilizing additional financial resources to address critical gaps and high-priority global system needs that deliver benefits across borders.
WMO very much appreciates the founding contribution provided by the United Arab Emirates, as well as their pledge to scale up their support.
Resources are allocated by WMO through the WMO Commons Annual Workplan, ensuring system-wide coherence, reducing fragmentation and maximizing collective impact
This includes:
• Overseeing the sustained operation and modernisation of its globally coordinated observing systems.
• Coordinating global meteorological data exchange and prediction infrastructure.
• Leading development, governance, and oversight of international standards and data policies.
• Stewarding coordination mechanisms that safeguard system integrity and interoperability.
Notes to Editors
For further information on how to participate and contribute, see
WMO Commons website at https://commons.wmo.int/
The World Meteorological Organization is the United Nations System’s authoritative voice on Weather, Climate and Water
wmo.int
For further information contact: Clare Nullis, WMO Press and Media Officer, cnullis
wmo [dot] int (cnullis[at]wmo[dot]int). Tel 41-79-7091397
The World Meteorological Organization is the United Nations System’s authoritative voice on Weather, Climate and Water.
For further information, please contact:
- Clare Nullis WMO media officer cnullis@wmo.int +41 79 709 13 97
- Global Communication and Engagement Media Contact media@wmo.int