Petteri Taalas,Achim SteinerandInger Andersen

Opinion | COP26: how plugging data gaps will transform our response to climate change

The creation of a major new initiative by three UN agencies will close the gaps in data undermining our understanding of the climate and extreme weather

The system will enable the world’s most vulnerable communities to get ahead of the curve, adapt to the effects of climate change and build resilience

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The weather radar facilities on Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong, look out over a sea of clouds on January 13, 2019. Improving the quality of weather forecasts, early warning systems and climate information services across the globe is vital. Photo: Martin Chan

Petteri Taalas,Achim SteinerandInger Andersen

Published: 9:15am, 31 Oct 2021Updated: 5:09pm, 31 Oct 2021

Just a week before the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, three of the United Nations’ leading agencies on climate and development released alarming reports.

The World Meteorological Organization has highlighted how greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2020. It found that concentrations of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere rose at a faster rate in 2020 than over the previous decade.

The UN Environment Programme reports that new and updated climate commitments by UN member states fell far short of what is needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. This leaves the world on track for a devastating global temperature rise of at least 2.7 degrees Celsius this century.

And a new UN Development Programme report shows that nearly half the Group of 20 countries – responsible for about 75 per cent of global emissions – had not adhered to core principles of the Paris Agreement to ratchet up climate ambitions. Even those that have strengthened their nationally determined contributions pledges need to do much more.

But amid this pessimistic news, there are reasons to be hopeful. The number of countries that have enhanced their climate pledges or intend to do so rose from 75 in 2019 to 178 in 2021. Most have abided by the key principle to submit increasingly ambitious contributions every five years.

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COP26 Glasgow, the UN Climate Change Conference: last chance to save the planet?

Moreover, away from the attention-grabbing headlines focused on the devastating effects of a changing climate, our three UN agencies and our partners at the Alliance for Hydromet Development have quietly created a major new initiative that will transform the international response to climate change. We will announce this initiative in Glasgow.