Jubilee Post News & Views
Dr. Seema Javed
A new multi-agency report, coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), provides an update on the latest data on the state of weather, climate, water, and related environmental and social sciences. The report warns that climate change and hazardous weather impacts are putting development gains at risk – but is hopeful that new technologies and innovation can reverse these trends.
Titled, ‘United in Science 2024,’ the report explores how advances in natural and social sciences, new technologies, and innovation improve our understanding of the Earth system. It highlights their “game changing” role in supporting climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction (DRR), and sustainable development.
The report notes that when the Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted in 2015, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were projected to rise by 16% by 2030 relative to 2015. Today, that projected increase is 3%. Yet, despite this progress, the emissions gap for 2030 “remains high,” according to the report.
The report underscores the urgent need for mitigation and adaptation action, arguing that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can make weather modelling faster, cheaper, and more accessible to lower-income countries (LICs), where computational capacities are limited. The report also reveals “incredible” advancements in space-based Earth observations that bring vast opportunities to enhance weather, climate, water, and other related environmental applications.
The report also discusses how immersive technologies such as digital twins, virtual reality, and the metaverse can “revolutionize” integrated land and water management through interactive and data-driven solutions to bridge the physical and digital worlds.
Transdisciplinary approaches are at the core of the report, bringing together scientists, policymakers, practitioners, and civil society, including local and Indigenous communities, “to co-create knowledge and implement solutions” that are relevant to local contexts. A transdisciplinary approach “differs from a multidisciplinary approach, where experts from different disciplines work on the same issue separately,” the report indicates.
The science is clear – greenhouse gas emissions are rising, global temperatures are shattering records and extreme weather is wreaking havoc with our lives and our economies. Urgent and ambitious action is needed to support sustainable development, climate action and disaster risk reduction.
The report argues that the decisions we make today could mean the difference between a future of breakdown or a breakthrough to a better world for people and the planet. Natural and social sciences, technology and innovation hold tremendous potential to help us achieve these global goals. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning are revolutionizing weather forecasting. Innovations in space-based Earth observations can help us better monitor greenhouse gas sources and sinks. Technologies such as digital twins and virtual reality can be applied in innovative contexts to help us achieve sustainable development and enhance disaster preparedness. However, science and technology alone are not enough. In an increasingly complex world, we must embrace diverse knowledge, experiences and perspectives to co-create solutions together.
The United Nations Secretary-General’s groundbreaking Early Warnings for All initiative highlights how we can work together to utilize advances in natural and social science, technology and transdisciplinary approaches to save lives and safeguard sustainable development gains.
According to the report, human-caused climate change has resulted in widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere, affecting many weather and climate extremes. Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions rose by 1.2% from 2021 to 2022, reaching 57.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent. Globally averaged surface concentrations of CO2, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) also reached new highs.
To limit global warming to 2°C and 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, by 2030, global GHG emissions must decrease by 28% and 42%, respectively, “from the levels projected from current policies,” according to WMO.
The year 2023 was the warmest on record by a large margin, with ocean heat content also reaching record highs, while Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice extent reached record lows. The first half of 2024 witnessed exceptionally high global temperatures and many extreme weather events, from scorching heat waves across large parts of Asia and drought in Southern Africa to record‑breaking floods in southern Brazil and the unprecedented Category 5 Hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean. The increasing frequency of extreme and hazardous weather events and their devastating impacts across society underscore the need for urgent and ambitious climate action.
Advances in weather, climate, water and related environmental and social sciences can enhance our understanding of the Earth system and boost progress towards achieving a sustainable future for all AI and machine learning (ML) have emerged as potentially transformative technologies that are revolutionizing weather forecasting and could equip society with better tools to drive progress towards climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development.
With rapid progress being made, AI and ML can make skillful weather modelling faster, cheaper and more accessible to lower-income countries with limited computational capacities. Additionally, innovations in satellite-based Earth observations can open new frontiers to advance weather, climate, water and related environmental applications. By leveraging public–private partnerships and international collaboration, innovations in space-based Earth observations can pave the way for improved weather prediction, enhanced understanding of our climate system and more robust environmental monitoring.
The report argues that global challenges such as climate change and sustainable development cannot be addressed by science and technology alone – they require a transdisciplinary approach to co-create and implement solutions.The Early Warnings for All (EW4All) initiative exemplifies how integrating global efforts across natural and social sciences, technological advances and transdisciplinary approaches can protect lives, livelihoods and the environment from natural hazards.
