Join us for the World Meteorological Day to shine the spotlight on climate action. The ceremony embraces all the key players involved in tackling the climate crisis: the UN family. national meteorological and hydrological services, youth and civil society, policy makers and the private sector. 

This year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is partnering with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to launch a climate action campaign to raise awareness globally and mobilize society to act. This campaign will be launched on 21 March on television and social channels and live on stage at the WMO. It is supported by national meteorological and hydrological services, weather presenters and media outlets around the world.

The message of the campaign is about ambition, commitment and action from both policy makers and from individuals. If we all join together, we can keep the 1.5° degree ambition alive. 

Programme

15:00 - 15:25: Introduction by WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo and Agi Veres, Director, Geneva Office, UNDP and launch of UNDP’s new climate action campaign

15:25 - 15:30: How the weather has changed – through a TV forecaster’s eyes: Philippe Jeanneret, Swiss television weather presenter

15:30 - 15:45: Zebraside Conversation: Storytelling and Science. Boaz Paldi, UNDP Chief Creative Officer and Lauren Stuart, WMO Scientific Officer

15:45 - 16:25: High-level panel discussion to discuss how to keep the 1.5° goal of the Paris Agreement alive? (see below)

16:25 - 16:35: Q&A with the audience in the room

16: 35 - 16:40: Saving lives, at the forefront of climate action, Perspectives from WMO and meteorological services

16:40 - 16:50: Concluding remarks

How to keep the 1.5° goal alive? 

The WMO State of Global Climate report reminds everyone of the urgency to tackle the climate crisis. Everywhere in the world, people are already suffering from the negative impact of climate change. Rising temperatures, extreme weather, ocean heat and acidification, ice and glacier retreat affects human health, economies and ecosystems. Science shows that negative impacts are increasing and some changes risk being irreversible. 

Climate action is essential to sustainable development, including good health, access to water and sanitation and freedom from poverty and hunger. There is no avenue for human development without prioritizing climate action.
The Paris Agreement on climate change laid the ground to design robust climate action through the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and the ratcheting mechanism that obliges governments to review and enhance their goals every five years.

Everyone agrees on the need to abide by the lower 1.5° target of the Paris ambitions. Can we still reach it and under which conditions? How is it that despite scientific evidences and a wealth of climate data, public policies are not going faster and wider? What is expected from the different actors – including the public, corporate and financial sector? How do young people have a say in increasing climate ambition and contribute to moving the needle?

Moderator

Marie-Claire Graf, Future Leaders Network

Speakers

Prof. Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of WMO

Agi Veres, Director, Geneva Office, UNDP

H.E. Matthew Wilson, Permanent Representative and Ambassador, Barbados

Rosa Sangiorgio, Head of Sustainability, Pictet Wealth Management

Read here the speakers' bios.