The United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP30) is taking place in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025, bringing together world leaders, scientists and organisations to accelerate action on climate change.
ECMWF Director-General Florence Rabier has participated in a number of high-level events during the first week of the conference that have focused on the need to strengthen systematic observations to close critical weather and climate data gaps worldwide.
On 10 November, Florence Rabier took part in Earth Information Day, representing the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) on a panel discussing advances in systematic observation and scalable innovations.
Earth Information Day (EID) provides a platform for dialogue, offering an opportunity to review and discuss the state of the global climate system and recent progress in systematic observation.
Florence Rabier with Abdalah Mokssit, Secretary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Florence highlighted how satellite-based observations have transformed our ability to monitor and understand climate change and have supported effective adaptation and mitigation policies. She noted that sustained satellite measurements, as coordinated by CEOS and CGMS, are the backbone of long-term climate data records for many Essential Climate Variables defined by GCOS - ranging from ocean heat content and sea-level rise to ice loss, greenhouse gases and changes in the Earth’s energy balance. These observations also provide critical information on extreme events such as floods, droughts, wildfires and tropical cyclones, forming a core part of early warning systems worldwide.
Florence also outlined progress in promoting the co-production and scaling up of Earth observation solutions. GEO’s Post-2025 Geo Work Programme, approved earlier this year, will advance global Earth intelligence by integrating new technologies such as AI and machine learning. She also highlighted GEO’s new collaboration with the WMO and GCOS to strengthen the value chain for Essential Climate Variables, with pilot projects on urban heat and ecosystem resilience already underway.
She then presented with Markus Repnik Director of the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF).
You can watch a recording of the Earth Information Day event on the UNFCCC website.
Florence Rabier presenting at Earth Information Day at COP30.
Closing critical data gaps
At the high-level event Time to scale up: The urgency to close the weather and climate data gap on 11 November, Florence joined the launch of the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF) Action Report 2025 and highlighted ECMWF’s contributions to the initiative.
SOFF is a United Nations facility created to close critical weather and climate data gaps, particularly in Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. Improving these observations will enhance the accuracy of global forecasts, reduce disaster losses and support climate adaptation worldwide.
Florence Rabier at a UNFCCC and SOFF high level event with (L-R): Afke van Rijn, Vice-Minister for the Environment and International Affairs, Netherlands, Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General, WMO, Willem van de Voorde, Climate and Environment Special Envoy, Belgium, Satu Santala, Managing Director, Nordic Development Fund, Florence Rabier, Surabi Menon, VP of Global Insights & Action at ClimateWorks Foundation, Luisa Meque, President of National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction, Mozambique, and Markus Repnik, SOFF.
Florence presented results from the ECMWF-SOFF Impact Experiments, which quantify the benefits of closing the GBON data gap. These experiments demonstrated that by adding surface and upper-air observations in all Official Development Assistance (ODA) countries and Small Island Developing States, forecast uncertainty is reduced by up to 30 percent in Africa and by up to 20 percent in the Pacific Islands, the Indian Ocean, Central and South America and Asia.
(Top) Data coverage from current observations (red) and additional observations from ODA countries and small Island Developing States (blue dots) (bottom) impact of additional observations showing reduced analysis uncertainty, leading to a reduction in forecast uncertainty.
Crucially, Florence underscored that local investment and impact generate global benefits, with improvements disseminated across the globe – benefiting people everywhere.
Florence also contributed to the launch of the Systematic Observation Impact Bond, a complementary climate finance vehicle under the SOFF.
The Impact Bond aims to mobilise up to USD 200 million from public, private and philanthropic capital to expand critical weather and climate observations worldwide. It will help meet urgent country needs by front-loading investments and establishing a scalable model to close the GBON data gap.
Messaging from SOFF partners and the European Meteorological Infrastructure reinforced this urgency. In a joint declaration, ECMWF, EUMETSAT, EUMETNET and WMO called for urgent investment in SOFF to close the global weather and climate data gaps, stressing that forecasts - and the warnings they enable - are only as good as the observations behind them.
For more information, visit the COP30 website.