WMO has issued new guidance to support Members in mobilizing and leveraging climate finance to increase resilience as part of the wider mission to save lives and livelihoods.
Climate finance is at the forefront of political agendas worldwide and is key to achieving global goals to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.
At the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), it was agreed that the New Collective Quantified Goal of Climate Finance (NCQG) - previously set at USD 100 billion annually - was insufficient, and that financing for developing countries need be tripled , to USD 300 billion annually by 2035.
"Recognizing that the impacts of climate change are being felt more than ever, the need for countries to mobilize financial support to achieve their climate action goals is a forefront consideration," said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
"The role of NMHSs as a critical actor at national level for climate finance investment planning, programming and implementation should be reinforced, but this requires the NMHS to be able to successfully carry out such a mandate and demonstrate value in being at the centre of science-based climate action and decision-making," she said.
The publication Enhancing the Role of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in Mobilizing Climate Finance at the National Level provides information on the various funding channels, instruments, and the catalytic role climate finance is expected to play at the national level.
The guidance note seeks to:
- Provide relevant information on climate finance actors and processes that are typically undertaken at the national level.
- Explain climate finance decision-making principles and the role of NMHSs as key drivers in the climate finance mobilization process.
- Highlight opportunities for NMHSs to work with funding agencies and national stakeholders to propose investments that can help build their infrastructural and institutional capacity to enable the effective design and use of climate information services.
- Demonstrate how NMHSs can be empowered through intentional efforts that focus on vision setting, strategy, and agency perception in order to mobilize resources for national climate action ambitions.
The guidance note was first showcased during a Consultative Meeting on Climate Science Information for Climate Finance in China in October 2024.
The guidance note is part of a wider WMO strategy to support projects that ensure Members can leverage existing funds more effectively to attract new investments.
Case study: Seychelles
For instance, in recent years, Seychelles has made great strides in advancing the capacity of the Seychelles Meteorological Authority (SMA) by strengthening leadership, planning and regional partnerships.
In 2020 through the CREWS South-West Indian Ocean (SWIO) project , WMO assumed the coordinating role in determining SMA's strategic plan. Facilitating the optimal use of the available resources and leveraging all planned investments at the regional and national scales, this created the conditions to attract bilateral and multilateral climate funds, leading to the implementation of projects in September 2023.
The aim is to close the gap in capacity levels among the NMHSs in the other four target countries - Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Mozambique - to build resilience to natural hazards.
Since September 2023, other projects have been prepared and are now in the pipeline. In addition, Seychelles' second five-year strategic plan, covering the further development of climate services, a plan to create cost recovery activities within the marine sector, and the implementation of an improved early warning system, was approved in March 2024.
WMO and other entities like the Alliance for Hydromet Development will continue to scale up technical and capacity development support to empower NMHSs as critical actors in national climate decision-making, ensuring national strategies, activities and investments are grounded in robust climate science.
