Opening remarks - Climate Diplomacy: Restoring Trust for Climate Action

Panelists, Excellencies, distinguished participants and guests,

Let me start by thanking MERI Foundation, part of Filantropía Cortes Solari. It is a great honour for me as head of the World Meteorological Organization to join you here at COP30 — in Belém, at the heart of the Amazon — for a dialogue on climate diplomacy and trust, and for the inauguration of this Pavillion.

Trust is the cornerstone of multilateralism.

Today, more than ever, trust depends on our shared capacity to produce, communicate, and act on scientific evidence.

WMO this year celebrates its 75th anniversary – 75 years of climate diplomacy, based on trust and on truth.  Trust begins with evidence. And evidence begins with observations.

Every day, our community — the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services — provides systematic observations, climate data and predictions and services that allow UNFCCC Parties to measure progress, assess risks, and make informed policy decisions.

They form the foundation of climate evidence and understanding — and therefore, the backbone of climate diplomacy.

The COP30 Presidency has called for a “granary of solutions” to translate ambition into implementation. WMO contributes to this by ensuring that every political commitment rests on a scientific foundation.

Our State of the Climate Update  confirms that 2025 is set to become one of the warmest years on record. Greenhouse gas concentrations are  their highest in 800,000 years, The record increase in greenhouse gas levels means that it will be virtually impossible to limit global warming to 1.5 °C in the next few years without temporarily overshooting the Paris Agreement target.

The data is clear, but it is not data alone that drives change — it is how that data is transformed into knowledge, capacity, and action.

That is why we are strengthening co-development of knowledge — connecting scientists, decision-makers, youth and local communities to ensure that information is fit for purpose and contextualized for action.

For example, under the Early Warnings for All initiative, we work with governments, UN partners, and communities to ensure that by 2027, everyone on Earth is protected by life-saving early warning systems.

At this COP, WMO’s first objective is to provide authoritative scientific information so that decisions on adaptation and mitigation are guided by the best available evidence. This COP must be the COP of truth.  

Our data and analyses — from greenhouse gas trends to the state of global climate and water resources reports — give Parties a common, verifiable reference point.

This shared evidence base is essential to build consensus and trust across negotiations.

When all Parties work from the same scientific understanding, we create not division, but alignment

That is why WMO continuously informs the UNFCCC Parties in their  development and implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans. Our science that is transparent, traceable, and policy relevant.

Our second objective at this COP is to advance science-driven metrics, including the Global Goal on Adaptation.

Adaptation progress can only be meaningful if it can be measured, to foster mutual confidence, and support equitable access to climate finance. 

When countries can demonstrate adaptation results through  science-based evidence, trust is built between Parties, between governments and communities, between science and society.

So, science is not only a diagnostic and monitoring tool — it is a diplomatic instrument.

Colleagues,

WMO’s work — from systematic observations to adaptation metrics — provides the objective and common language that allows diplomacy to thrive.

Restoring trust in climate action starts with restoring trust in science.

Here in Belém, let us ensure every negotiated word is grounded in evidence, turning evidence into trusted decisions, and decisions into collective and transformational climate actions.

Thank you.