WMO Launches Global Climate Intelligence Fund to Protect Weather Forecasting Network

“Climate risk is increasingly expressed through weather. And weather risk is rapidly translating into economic risk,” Saulo told delegates.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has unveiled a major new global financing initiative aimed at protecting and modernizing the world's weather forecasting infrastructure, warning that escalating climate risks are rapidly becoming one of the greatest economic threats facing governments, businesses, and financial systems worldwide.

The newly launched Weather, Climate and Water Intelligence Commons — known as the WMO Commons — seeks to mobilize at least US$100 million over the next five years to strengthen global weather observation, climate monitoring, forecasting, and early warning systems that underpin trillions of dollars in economic activity.

The initiative was officially introduced by WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo during a high-level keynote address at Climate Week Zurich, where financial leaders, government officials, insurers, and business executives gathered to discuss the growing economic consequences of climate change and extreme weather.

The WMO warned that the world's weather forecasting backbone — a vast international system of satellites, weather stations, ocean buoys, data centers, and scientific coordination networks — is becoming dangerously underfunded despite its critical role in global economic stability.

"Climate risk is increasingly expressed through weather. And weather risk is rapidly translating into economic risk," Saulo told delegates.

According to data cited by the WMO, weather- and climate-related catastrophes caused an estimated US$318 billion in global losses during 2024 alone, with only 43 percent of those losses insured.

The World Economic Forum now ranks extreme weather among the most severe long-term global risks over the next decade.

Around the world, climate-driven disasters including storms, floods, droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires are increasingly disrupting supply chains, reducing labour productivity, damaging infrastructure, straining healthcare systems, and driving rising insurance and recovery costs.

Saulo argued that weather forecasting and climate intelligence should no longer be viewed merely as scientific services, but as essential economic infrastructure.

"Forecasts do not stop storms or droughts from happening. But they turn surprise into preparedness. And preparedness protects lives, assets and growth," she said.

"Weather and climate intelligence today is not simply useful information. It is economic intelligence."

The WMO highlighted how modern forecasting systems already provide enormous economic value by helping businesses reroute logistics, insurers assess risk, governments prepare for disasters, and investors evaluate resilience.

Advances in forecasting science have dramatically improved predictive accuracy over recent decades.

According to the organization, today's five-day weather forecasts are now as accurate as three-day forecasts were twenty years ago, while short-term forecast accuracy has improved by approximately 10 to 20 percent.

Behind these forecasts lies one of the world's most complex and interconnected scientific systems.

Every day, more than 100 million weather observations are collected globally from satellites, radiosondes, ocean buoys, weather stations, and other monitoring platforms before being integrated into international forecasting models.

The WMO coordinates much of this global infrastructure by establishing technical standards, enabling cross-border data sharing, and ensuring weather observations from one country can support forecasts in another.

However, the organization warned that weaknesses in any part of the system can create cascading global impacts.

Many National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in developing countries remain severely under-resourced and lack the infrastructure needed to deliver reliable forecasting and early warning services.

"And this has a knock-on impact beyond national borders because when one part weakens, it weakens all countries," the WMO said.

The economic costs of inadequate forecasting are already substantial.

Studies cited by the organization estimate that absent or imperfect forecasts contribute to annual inefficiencies of:

• Up to US$230 billion in cereal agriculture

• Approximately US$20 billion in the energy sector

• Around US$9 billion in disaster risk management

The WMO Commons is designed to address what the organization describes as a global "coordination failure" in weather and climate financing.

By pooling international resources, strengthening monitoring systems, standardizing data, and modernizing forecasting infrastructure, the initiative aims to improve global resilience while reducing economic volatility and disaster-related losses.

The organization describes the initiative as a kind of "collective insurance policy" for the global weather forecasting 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," the WMO said.

The fund will support:

• Modernization of globally coordinated observing systems

• Expansion of meteorological data exchange infrastructure

• Improvement of prediction and modelling systems

• Development of international forecasting standards and governance

• Coordination mechanisms to maintain interoperability and system integrity

The WMO also confirmed that the United Arab Emirates has provided the founding contribution for the initiative and pledged to scale up its support in the future.

Resources will be allocated through annual WMO Commons workplans aimed at reducing fragmentation and maximizing global collective impact.

Climate finance experts say the launch reflects a broader international recognition that climate adaptation requires not only physical infrastructure investment but also stronger scientific and data systems capable of supporting decision-making across governments, industries, and financial markets.

As climate risks intensify, weather intelligence is increasingly being treated as a strategic global public good essential for economic security, disaster resilience, and sustainable development.