New UN met chief to focus on the how

– The world needs to take far more action to slash greenhouse gas emissions, with soaring temperatures a huge concern, the new head of the United Nation’s (UN) climate agency has warned.

Celeste Saulo said yesterday humanity was facing one of its toughest challenges and had the duty to sculpt a brighter future.

“We are far from having enough action in terms of reducing greenhouse gases and that is really a concern,” she said in her first press conference as secretary-general of the World Meterorological Organisation (WMO).

“Humanity is facing one of its most complex challenges,” she said. “Over the next years, we have an opportunity, a duty and a possibility to shape the narrative on climate action.

“We are not mere observers; we are architects of a sustainable future.”

She said adapting to climate change was no longer a choice but a necessity, as is building up the capacity to resist and recover from climate-related disasters.

“Under my leadership, we will fortify early warning systems, enhance data accessibility and make science and timely, life-saving information accessible to all.

“It will not be an easy road, but if we have strength and determination, we will ride it” she said.

Saulo, 59, ran the Argentinian National Meteorological Service from 2014 before becoming the

WMO’s first woman leader, taking office this month.

She wants to make sure everyone on the planet is covered by first-class early warning systems for weather hazards and improve global greenhouse gas monitoring through integrated space and surface-based observations.

She said her imprint would be “on the how, not on the what”.

“If we fail at implementation we would be failing the world. Here is where my strength will be focused.”

Saulo said 30 countries, mostly small island states and countries in Africa, were particularly prone to such hazards and needed improved early warnings.

“By the end of 2024 we will show you concrete results at the level of those 30 countries,” she pledged.

Resource mobilisation was far too slow and bureaucratic, she continued.

“Sometimes, when they make a decision it takes two to three years to have the money in place. We cannot allow those timescales for action.”

The 2015 Paris climate accords aimed to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and 1.5oC if possible.

The WMO said last Friday the 2023 annual average global temperature was 1.45oC above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) – the warmest year on record. –