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Weather and climate data is essential for both finance ministries and the climate-science community to model the future, assess physical risks, and formulate climate strategies and policies. Yet serious data gaps exist, which severely affects the quality of weather and climate prediction globally and undermines the effectiveness of climate-related decision making. To address this long-standing problem, a new financing approach has been developed and a newly created financing mechanism will be presented at this event: the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF).
This session, co-hosted by the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action and the World Meteorological Organization, will bring the finance ministry and the climate-science communities together for the first time at a COP to discuss the urgency of closing the weather and climate data gaps and how Ministers of Finance can support this endeavor, as well as how climate data can be used by finance ministries to create more effective economic policies.
In order for Finance Ministers to fully embed climate into their decision making, better data on climate risks and potential impacts are required. This has been continuously highlighted as part of the Coalition’s work under Helsinki Principle 4 on Mainstreaming Climate Change into Mitigation and Adaption policies, which addresses macro-fiscal and other relevant policy planning, budgeting, and disaster-risk planning.
Yet, according to World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Petteri Taalas, “today, less than 10% of required basic weather and climate observations are available from Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries”. While recent IPCC reports reveal the increasing global capacity in the understanding of climate change, it also highlights the persistent limitations for a number of countries where significant data gaps remain.
To address this challenge, a breakfast meeting co-hosted by the Coalition and the WMO will be held to open COP Science Day on 10th November. This would likely be the first high-level meeting on climate change between Finance Ministers and leaders of the scientific community, and would reinforce the need for rigorous data and analysis to fully embed climate issues into fiscal and financial sector planning.
Coalition member countries would present current macroeconomic modelling and financial sector methodologies to the science community, stressing current gaps in data and knowhow and highlighting the challenges to be overcome. Representatives from the scientific community would document the severe data gaps that are limiting the understanding of climate change, showcase the latest tools and data which Finance Ministries might use to better inform their economic modeling and policymaking, and suggest how the Coalition could help close this gap.
| Time | Segment | Speaker |
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| 8:45 – 9:00 | Opening Remarks | Speakers
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| 9:00 – 9:30 | Panel Discussion | Moderator
Panelists
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| 9:30 – 9:45 | Q&A |
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Mari Pangestu is an Indonesian economist who has been Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships in the World Bank since 2020. She previously served as Minister of Trade in Indonesia from October 2004 to October 2011. Pangestu has had extensive policy-making experience in Indonesia. Following her period as Minister for Trade, in a cabinet reshuffle in October 2011 she was appointed to the newly created position of minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, a post she held until the term of the administration of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono finished on 20 October 2014.
As Deputy Managing Director at the IMF, Mr. Bo Li is responsible for the IMF’s work on about 90 countries as well as on a wide range of policy issues. Before joining the IMF, Mr. Li worked for many years at the People’s Bank of China, most recently as Deputy Governor. He earlier headed the Monetary Policy, Monetary Policy II, and Legal and Regulation Departments, where he played an important role in the reform of state-owned banks, the drafting of China’s anti-money-laundering law, the internationalization of the renminbi, and the establishment of China’s macroprudential policy framework. Outside of the PBoC, Mr. Li served as Vice Mayor of Chongqing—China’s largest municipality, with a population of over 30 million—where he oversaw the city’s financial-sector development, international trade, and foreign direct investment.
Suahasil Nazara was appointed as the Vice Minister of Finance in October 2019. He also serves as Chair of the National Economic Recovery Task Force and has been the Vice Chairperson of the Job Creation Law Task Force since May 2021. Suahasil Nazara started his public service as a lecturer in economics at the Universitas Indonesia in 1999. Within the Universitas Indonesia he served different positions such as the Director of Graduate Program in Economics (2004-2005), the Director of Demographic Institute (2005-2008), and Chair of Economics Department (2009-2013). He later served as a member of the Presidential National Economic Committee (2013-2014), and was inaugurated as the Chairman of the Fiscal Policy Agency, at the Ministry of Finance in 2016.
Professor Petteri Taalas has been Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization—the United Nation’s specialized agency on weather, climate, and water—since 2016. A meteorologist by training, Professor Taalas advises the United Nations Secretary-General on climate change mitigation and adaptation. He is a leading advocate for increased investment in securing reliable data from all over the world for global, regional, and national forecasts and climate projections. He is spearheading a drive to ensure everyone on Earth is protected by early warning systems against increasingly extreme weather and climate change.
Florian Pappenberger is the Director of Forecasts and Deputy Director General of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. He is responsible for 24/7 weather forecast production, forecast quality control, development of novel forecast products, application of weather forecasts such as flood, drought, fire and health forecasts, development of software for numerical weather forecasts, sales of data, as well as public relations and training. Florian has experience in forecasting weather-related natural hazards such as floods, droughts, storms, wildfires and human health impacts. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Meteorological Society and a member of several other professional bodies including HEPEX, British Hydrological Society, EGU, AGU, EMS, AMS.
Dr Nirivololona Raholijaois the current Director General of Meteo Madagascar since February 2019 after having completed 30 years of service with the National Meteorological and Hydrological Service of Madagascar. She manages the overall operations. Before this function, she was successively head of the forecasting division, head of the operational meteorology department and director of research and development. She is also the permanent representative of Madagascar with WMO and the National IPCC Focal Point. In 2008, she was elected as the IPCC Working Group II Vice Chair for Africa region hence she was highly involved in the IPCC AR5. While the UNFCCC was at the negotiation stage, she was the head of Madagascar delegation during the sessions of the body and lead the ratification process of the convention by Madagascar in 1998.
Alexia Latortue serves as Assistant Secretary for International Trade and Development. Latortue has 20 years of experience in international development and financial systems development. She previously served as Deputy CEO at Millennium Challenge Corporation and Managing Director of Corporate Strategy at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Latortue served at the Treasury Department from 2013-2017 as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Development Policy. Prior to that she spent 10 years with the World Bank as Deputy CEO at the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). Latortue is a graduate of Georgetown University and The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
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