The latest climate science from WMO and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is informing negotiations at COP25 in Madrid, Spain from 2 to 13 December 2019.
Ahead of COP25, WMO issued its Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, showing that levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high. “The latest, just-released data from the World Meteorological Organization show that levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high. Global average levels of carbon dioxide reached 407.8 parts per million in 2018. Not long ago, 400 parts per million was seen as an unthinkable tipping point,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“The signs are unmissable. The last five years have been the hottest ever recorded. The consequences are already making themselves felt in the form of more extreme weather events and associated disasters, from hurricanes to drought to floods to wildfires. Ice caps are melting. Ocean levels are rising quicker than expected, putting some of our biggest and most economically important cities at risk,” said the UN Secretary-General.
WMO issues its provisional statement on the state of the global climate in 2019 on 3 December. This shows that the long-term warning trend continued in 2019, with many high-impact events. There will be a press conference with WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
An inaugural State of Climate Services in 2019 report will also be released by the WMO-spearheaded Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS).
The latest climate science is highlighted at the joint IPCC-WMO Science Pavilion at COP25. This will host a number of side events throughout COP25.
The conference takes place under the Presidency of the Government of Chile, held with logistical support from the Government of Spain. The President-designate for the conference is Ms. Carolina Schmidt, Minister of Environment of Chile.
COP25 will follow up the implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. This seeks to keep global mean temperature rise this century well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C said this target was physically possible but would require unprecedented changes in our lifestyle, energy and transport systems.
The urgency of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions requires more tools at national and sub-national level to support stakeholders in taking effective and efficient actions. Recognizing this need, WMO has initiated the development of a new Integrated Global Greenhouse Gas Information System (IG3IS), which provides the framework for the development and standardization of the observational based tools that can guide the emissions reduction actions.
