At the UN climate conference, Secretary General Antonio Guterres unveiled details of his plan to create an early warning system that would cover the globe and sound the alarm ahead of climate disasters. The project would cost $3.1 billion to implement over five years.
“Vulnerable communities in climate hot spots are being blindsided by cascading climate disasters without any means of prior alert,” said Guterres. “These disasters displace three times more people than war. And the situation is getting worse.” Guterres first proposed the warning system in March.
An estimated 3.3 to 3.6 billion people — or four of every 10 of the world’s inhabitants — live in areas highly vulnerable to climate change. Half of the world’s nations, especially in Africa, developing nations and small island states, lack warning systems. The system proposed by Guterres would build systematic observing networks, facilitate daily exchange of data and translate forecasts into likely impacts.
The World Meteorological Organization said in 2021 that floods, droughts, heat waves and storms caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage annually.
In a speech to open the COP27 meeting — which runs until 18 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt — Guterres said the world was running out of time to act on global warming. “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator,” he said.
The UN action plan, “Early warnings for all,” is available here.