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WMO WEATHER, CLIMATE AND WATER INTELLIGENCE

The WMO Commons
A financing mechanism for global resilience: Safeguarding the World's Weather, Climate and Water Intelligence

Financing the world's public weather and climate infrastructure – the invisible global backbone of systems, standards and coordination that keeps weather, climate and water intelligence working worldwide.

Every forecast. Every warning. Every climate-risk decision. Every investment decision.
All depend on a shared, trusted, global flow of weather, climate and water data.

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INTRODUCTION


The WMO Commons sustains and modernizes the international cooperation behind this critical public infrastructure - enabling resilience, economic stability, market confidence and informed decision making worldwide.

Yet this shared foundation is underfunded and under increasing pressure with growing demand, aging infrastructure, mounting operational complexity and evolving requirements. The consequences fall on billions of people and the economic systems they depend on.

Reliable, forward-looking risk intelligence is essential for governments, financial markets, insurers, supply chains, communities, and businesses. In an increasingly AI-powered world, systems are only as strong as the data they depend on. Ensuring that critical data streams remain continuous, open, and trusted is not just a technical challenge. It is a global commitment.

The WMO Commons seeks to mobilize at least USD 100 million over 5 years to finance global weather, climate and water monitoring, prediction, and service delivery systems.








Our Partners

Founding Contributor



United Arab Emirates

STRATOSPHERE CHAMPION








The state of global weather, climate and water intelligence

Essential systems. Growing risks. Persistent gaps.

Click each figure to learn more.



193

Members connected through one global system

World Meteorological Organization

WMO enables cooperation across 193 Members through shared standards, trusted data exchange and operational coordination. This allows countries to function as one connected global system where observations, forecasts and warnings move across borders in real time.

100M+

observations exchanged globally every day

WMO · 2024

More than 100 million weather, climate and water observations are exchanged internationally each day through WMO-coordinated systems. Every forecast, warning and climate outlook depends on this invisible data backbone.

0%

Early Warning coverage is expanding – but major gaps remain

UNDRR / WMO · 2023

The EW4All Initiative aims to ensure every person on Earth is protected by an early warning system. Real progress is being made, but significant gaps remain, particularly in the least developed countries and small island states where the need is greatest.

Roughly 90% of weather-related disaster deaths occur in developing countries. Without reliable observation networks and forecast systems, warnings arrive too late or not at all.

11,000+

disasters and US$ 3.64 trillion in economic losses (1970–2019)

WMO Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water-related Hazards (1970–2021)

Weather, climate and water hazards caused more than 11,000 disasters between 1970 and 2019. Economic losses increased sevenfold from the 1970s to the 2010s; stronger early warning systems helped reduce mortality.

0%

of least developed countries lack forecasting capacity

WMO Global Survey · 2022

Many National Meteorological and Hydrological Services still require external support to deliver reliable operational forecasts and warnings. This creates a climate intelligence divide with consequences far beyond national borders. Inadequate forecasting results in major economic losses.

USD 230B

in annual inefficiencies across key sectors

Farkas et al., 2025

Studies estimate annual inefficiencies of up to USD 230 billion in cereal agriculture, USD 20 billion in energy, and USD 9 billion in disaster risk management due to absent or imperfect forecasts.

AI

is only as strong as trusted data



Advanced forecasting models depend on continuous, authoritative and quality-assured observations . Innovation can accelerate insight, but only when grounded in trusted public data.


Sources: WMO , UNDRR , World Bank, CREWS , EW4All Initiative, Farkas et al. (2025) Full references at wmo.int (opens in a new tab)






Why now

Risk is rising. Demand is accelerating.

The systems the world depends on for forecasts, warnings and climate intelligence are under growing pressure. The moment to act is now.








Climate volatility is increasing

More frequent and severe weather, climate and water extremes are driving higher losses, disruption and humanitarian need.







AI needs trusted public data

Advanced models depend on continuous, authoritative observations, internationally agreed standards and open data flows. Innovation can accelerate insight, but only when grounded in trusted infrastructure.







Insurance markets are under pressure

Escalating risk is increasing claims, pricing volatility and protection gaps, reinforcing the need for stronger forecasting and risk intelligence.







No country can sustain the backbone alone

The global system depends on a chain of shared investment, cooperation and stewardship. When one part weakens, it weakens all countries.







Supply chains are more exposed

Global production, transport and trade networks are increasingly vulnerable to weather shocks, water stress and cascading disruptions.










The WMO Commons is a WMO-managedpooled financing mechanism that sustains, strengthens and modernizes the globally mandated backbone of weather, climate and water intelligence.

The mechanism leverages Member State contributions by mobilizing additional financial resources to address critical gaps and high-priority global system needs that deliver benefits across borders.

Resources are allocated by WMO through the WMO Commons Annual Workplan , ensuring system-wide coherence, reducing fragmentation and maximizing collective impact.

Financial Target
USD 100M

over 5 years

to sustain, strengthen and modernize the global backbone of weather, climate and water intelligence.











Governance & Accountability

Fully Aligned with WMO’s Accountability Frameworks

The WMO Commons is:








01
Administered in line with WMO financial rules and regulations

Contributions are received and managed under WMO’s established financial rules and regulations, ensuring full legal and fiduciary accountability.


02
Subject to WMO audit, oversight and accountability systems

All operations are subject to WMO’s internal audit, oversight and accountability systems — the same standards that govern all WMO activities.


03
Driven by WMO’s Results-Based Management framework

Resource allocation and reporting are grounded in WMO’s Results-Based Management framework, linking every contribution to measurable system outcomes.


04
Designed to complement, not duplicate, existing financing mechanisms

The WMO Commons fills genuine gaps in the global system, carefully avoiding overlap with bilateral, regional or other multilateral financing mechanisms.


05
Governed with active management of organizational and reputational risk

Including structured due diligence for all contributors. The integration into WMO management systems reduces fragmentation, improves planning certainty and maximizes system-wide impact.



The integration into WMO management systems reduces fragmentation, improves planning certainty and maximizes system-wide impact.









What It Supports / Why It Matters

Critical functions and outcomes

What the WMO Commons Helps Finance

The WMO Commons helps finance critical gaps in globally mandated functions, including:



01Global observing systems02Data exchange & prediction03International standards04System integrity & interoperability



Overseeing the sustained operation and modernisation of its globally coordinated observing systems.



Why This Matters

WMO Members already invest in and rely on these shared systems. The WMO Commons ensures they are adequately resourced, modernized and globally coherent, so that all countries can:

Share meteorological observations across borders in real time.



Coordinating global meteorological data exchange and prediction infrastructure.



Why This Matters

WMO Members already invest in and rely on these shared systems. The WMO Commons ensures they are adequately resourced, modernized and globally coherent, so that all countries can:

Contribute to and benefit from global weather and climate prediction models.



Leading development, governance, and oversight of international standards and data policies.



Why This Matters

WMO Members already invest in and rely on these shared systems. The WMO Commons ensures they are adequately resourced, modernized and globally coherent, so that all countries can:

Maintain internationally agreed standards, protocols, and coordination mechanisms.



Stewarding coordination mechanisms that safeguard system integrity and interoperability.



Why This Matters

WMO Members already invest in and rely on these shared systems. The WMO Commons ensures they are adequately resourced, modernized and globally coherent, so that all countries can:

Ensure interoperability between national systems within the global network.



















Why WMO

A 75-Year Track Record
You Already Rely On





01


Convener

193 Members plus partners and expert networks; neutral, science-based convening authority.




02


Guardian

Safeguards the free and unrestricted data exchange underpinning global early warnings.




03


Standard-Setter

Global standards for weather, climate, and water data and services.




04


Architect

Designs and sustains the global observing systems powering every forecast.




05


Bridge

Transforms scientific advances into actionable services with everyday impact.




06


Equity Builder

Empowers vulnerable nations, strengthening systems for global knowledge access.









Where funding goes

Four Investment Pathways

Every contribution is allocated through the Annual Workplan across four pathways. Hover or click each pathway to see what your investment concretely supports.




The global backboneActionable services & capacityENABLINGREINFORCING


Pathway 1: Sustain & Optimize the Global Observing System


Without data, there are no forecasts. This secures the invisible backbone of all intelligence.




Pathway 3: Expand High-Impact Services & Early Warnings


Ensuring the best forecasts reach people in a form they can act on, saving lives and protecting economies.




Pathway 2: Strengthen Global Data Interoperability and Prediction


Translating raw data into high-resolution forecasts across timescales.




Pathway 4: Capacity & User Co-Creation


Building strong institutions and embedding co-creation to ensure science translates into action.







01Sustain & Optimize the Global Observing System02Strengthen Global Data Interoperability and Prediction03Expand High-Impact Services and Early Warnings04Capacity and User Co-Creation




01


Pathway 1

Pathway 1 – Sustain & Optimize the Global Observing System





Without data, there are no forecasts.

This pathway strengthens the observing backbone that powers warnings, forecasts and climate services across the atmosphere, oceans, hydrology, cryosphere and greenhouse gas domains.

Contributions help close critical coverage gaps, modernize systems and ensure compliance with WMO standards.



Why it matters

Observing systems are the invisible backbone of every early warning, climate outlook, and weather app. Yet critical gaps remain, especially in the most vulnerable regions, undermining global resilience.

Each contribution strengthens the global foundation of all forecasts and warnings, improving model accuracy, extending lead times, and reducing false alarms. The result is fewer disaster losses, greater climate resilience, and economic benefits worth trillions.


WIGOSGCOSGAWGBONOcean monitoring





02


Pathway 2

Pathway 2 – Strengthen Global Data Interoperability & Prediction





Data only creates value when it can be exchanged, processed and transformed into actionable intelligence.

This pathway strengthens global data exchange systems, modelling capability and prediction infrastructure across timescales, from minutes to seasons to decades.



Why it matters

Reliable forecasts begin with data, but without modern systems to exchange, process, and model that data, its value is lost. For many countries, data exchange is patchy, forecasting capacity is limited, and advanced modelling is out of reach — creating a “climate intelligence divide” that has global impacts, increasing vulnerability and tempering investment confidence.

Contributions unlock the full value of the global observing system, translating raw data into high-resolution forecasts across timescales, and ensuring that innovations from key WMO programmes rapidly reach users worldwide. This also enables authoritative climate predictions and projections across seasons, years and decades, ensuring global consistency and supporting long-term planning, adaptation and risk management.


WIS 2.0AI forecastingCAPGlobal modellingData exchange





03


Pathway 3

Pathway 3 – Expand High-Impact Services & Early Warnings





Forecasts only save lives when people receive and trust them.

This pathway expands multi-hazard early warning systems, impact-based forecasting and climate services for sectors such as agriculture, water, health, energy, transport and humanitarian operations.



Why it matters

Even the best forecasts are useless unless they reach people in a form they can act on. Today, too many warnings arrive too late, are too technical, or fail to reach the most at risk. Scaling impact-based services and multi-hazard early warning systems is not only central to saving lives, but also for protecting economies, de-risking investments and enabling climate adaptation.

Contributions expand hazard coverage, extend forecast lead times, improve accuracy and reliability, and ensure warnings are multi-channel, interoperable, and trusted. Every contributor can find their niche, whether it is preventing deaths from heat, safeguarding food security, reducing disaster losses, stabilizing insurance markets, or protecting global supply chains.


EW4AllImpact-based forecastingMulti-hazardAgricultureFinance





04


Pathway 4

Pathway 4 – Capacity Development & User Co-Creation





Technology alone cannot deliver resilience.

This pathway strengthens institutions, workforce skills, sustainable financing models and user-centred service delivery.

It supports NMHS capabilities, fellowships and training, partnerships, and co-design with users ranging from farmers to financial institutions.



Why it matters

Without strong institutions, sustainable financing, skilled professionals, and active user engagement, systems break down. Many public weather agencies (NMHSs), especially in developing countries, lack the institutional and technical capacity to provide reliable services.

This Pathway establishes the enabling environment that makes all other investments sustainable. Investment support here creates lasting institutional capacity, inclusive services, and shared ownership across the global network.


NMHS capacityTrainingFellowshipsCo-creationSouth-South








The investment case
A triple dividend for every contribution

Hydromet investments, investments that track weather and water, are among the highest-return public investments documented. The WMO Hydromet Gap Report identifies three compounding dividends.

Scroll to reveal all three dividends
Check the evidence base →

WMO (2015). Valuing Weather and Climate: Economic Assessment of Meteorological and Hydrological Services. https://library.wmo.int/idurl/4/54637

Farkas, B. et al. (2025). The Economic Value of Weather Forecasts: A Quantitative Systematic Literature Review. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 11213. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/42978

Rogers, D.P. (2026). Maximizing Value Creation: National Meteorological and Hydrological Services. Working Paper. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19336242

Hallegatte, S. (2012). A Cost Effective Solution to Reduce Disaster Losses in Developing Countries. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 6058.







Dividend 1 Avoided Losses
36:1

36:1 benefit-cost ratio, hydromet services

Hydrometeorological services have consistently been shown to deliver benefit-cost ratios up to 36:1 (WMO, 2024).

Expand for finance & insurance detail ▾

For the finance, insurance and sustainable business markets, as well as sovereign risk managers, the integrity of the global observing and forecasting system determines the reliability of risk information crucial for asset valuation, liability exposure and long-term decision-making and planning. Depreciation and degradation of this system translate into operational risk that can lead to inaccurate insurance pricing, supply-chain default risk and intermarket exchange risk.



WMO (2024)Finance · Insurance · Sovereign risk




Dividend 2 Positive Economic Benefits
USD 30 billion

annually in benefits

Estimated annual benefit of improved weather forecasting across weather-sensitive sectors - agriculture, energy, transport, and construction.

Expand for impact investor detail ▾

For impact investors and development finance institutions, this is the system that makes productive investment in climate-exposed economic sectors more bankable, more predictable and more resilient to weather-driven disruptions. It thereby improves returns on productive capital, while ensuring a minimisation of interruptions of ongoing operations.



WMO Hydromet Gap ReportImpact investors · DFIs




Dividend 3 Social and Environmental Benefits
4:1

Long-term resilience: ~4:1 return on adaptation

The Global Commission on Adaptation estimates that USD 1.8 trillion in climate adaptation investment between 2020 and 2030 could generate USD 7 trillion in net benefits, providing a return of almost 4:1.

Expand for sovereign wealth detail ▾

Hydromet services are the underpinning for those investments. Sovereign wealth funds, green bond issuers, and climate finance institutions depend on this data infrastructure for every adaptation decision they make; a degradation of the observing system represents a systemic risk to the performance of these decisions.



Global Commission on AdaptationSovereign wealth · Green bonds










Strongweather,climateandwaterintelligencesystemsarecriticaleconomicinfrastructure.






Why contribute through the WMO Commons

The smartest way to invest in the global backbone.






High leverage

Each contribution strengthens infrastructure that multiplies the value of billions in existing investments.





Global Public Impact

Support systems that benefit all countries and especially vulnerable populations.





Trusted Governance

Managed under WMO financial, audit and accountability frameworks.





Strategic engagement

Eligible contributors participate in dialogue through the Advisory Group.





Visibility

Recognition through global campaigns, major events and public reporting.





Efficiency

One pooled mechanism reduces fragmentation and transaction costs.








Contribution tiers

How to participate






Horizon Contributor

USD 50,000+ minimum



Acknowledgement in WMO Commons public materials (subject to agreement)

Invitations to WMO Commons public events



Sky Partner

USD 100,000+ minimum



All Horizon Contributor benefits

Invitations to contributor briefings and high-level events

Early access to results and impact reporting

Recognition across WMO campaigns and publications



Stratosphere Champion

USD 500,000+ annually



All Sky Partner benefits

Membership in the WMO Commons Advisory Group (WCAG)

Dialogue on emerging system needs, gaps, and opportunities

Strategic input on the WMO Commons Annual Workplan priorities

Co-create solutions in a priority sector or region

Enhanced recognition across WMO global campaigns and publications

Visibility opportunities at high-level UN and other events








HOW TO JOIN

Four simple steps to contribute

The process is straightforward and typically takes four to eight weeks from initial conversation to fund transfer.






1


Start the Conversation

Meet with WMO to confirm how your contribution aligns with WMO Commons priorities, agree an indicative contribution level, and discuss visibility preferences.




2


Complete Due Diligence

Provide the information needed for WMO's standard financial and integrity screening. For private sector entities, this includes a structured reputational risk assessment in line with WMO's Private Sector Due Diligence Policy.




3


Sign the Contribution Agreement

Sign a legal instrument setting out the contribution amount, reporting arrangements, and applicable terms under WMO financial regulations.




4


Transfer your contribution

Transfer funds to the WMO Commons Fund. You will receive consolidated financial and results reporting through the WMO Commons Results and Impact Report, and invitations to briefings and events as applicable to your tier.









Know More

Download supporting documents

Operational Guidelines and Planning, Financing and Reporting Framework.


Operational GuidelinesDownload

Planning, Financing and Reporting FrameworkDownload









Get in touch

Ready to join the

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