Climate crisis: Satellites and AI offer hope for global action, says UN weather agency
“The science is clear: we are far from meeting our global climate targets. 2023 was the warmest year on record by a huge margin. Leading international datasets show that the first eight months of 2024 will also be the warmest months on record.” speak World Meteorological Organization Secretary General Celeste Saulo.
She called for “urgent and ambitious action” to support sustainable development, climate action and disaster risk reduction because “the decisions we make today can make the difference between future collapse or a breakthrough towards a better world”.
Repeats stern assessment of UN’s latest partner United in Science Report Record greenhouse gas concentrations will drive up global temperatures, with extreme weather “devastating our lives and economies,” Ms Saulo noted.
Her comments come amid deadly wildfires across Latin America and Portugal, along with catastrophic flooding in central Europe linked to Hurricane Boris which inundated parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, and floods and landslides caused by Hurricane Yagi which devastated Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.
In a global call to action to coincide with the upcoming Future Summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the WMO chief highlighted the untapped potential of natural and social sciences, new technologies and innovation to help countries develop, reduce vulnerability to disasters and adapt to climate change.
Digital benefits become reality
AI and machine learning are revolutionizing the science of weather forecasting by making it ‘faster, cheaper and more accessible’she noted, before adding that advanced satellite technologies and virtual reality simulations are now “opening new frontiers” in important areas. threatened by climate change and dangerous weathersuch as land and water management.
Highlighting the value of satellite technology to climate science, Ms. Saulo explained that innovations in observing Earth from space have helped improve monitoring of greenhouse gas sources and carbon sinks.
The WMO Secretary-General also noted the potential of new technologies such as “digital twins” – creating a virtual copy of a physical object, such as the Earth – and virtual reality – providing immersive simulated environments – to help achieve the globally agreed goal. Sustainable Development Goals and enhance disaster preparedness.
Ms Saulo stressed that technology alone would not be enough to tackle climate change, as she called on all countries to share their expertise and experience at the Summit of the Future in New York from September 22-23, “to ensure that the benefits of science and technology are accessible to all if we are to achieve the global goals”.
Global Goals
These goals include Paris Agreementthe Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction And Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (SDGs).
According to the latest international datasets crunched for this year’s United in Science report, there is an 86 percent chance that at least one year in the next five years will surpass 2023 as the warmest year on record. There is also an 80 percent chance that the average global surface temperature will temporarily exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in at least one of the next five years.
Despite the bleak outlook, there has been significant progress in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, which are expected to rise by 16 percent between 2015 and 2030, compared to a current projected increase of three percent. “But the emissions gap remains large,” the report, published in collaboration with the WMO, asserts.
The report also warns that without changes to current policies, there is a 66 percent chance that global warming will reach 3 degrees Celsius this century. “To achieve levels consistent with limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius and 1.5 degrees Celsius, global greenhouse gas emissions must fall by 28 percent and 42 percent, respectively, by 2030 compared to the levels projected under current policies,” the report’s authors note.
