Issue 33  |  09 November 2022

Spotlight on 'COP27'

On Sunday 6 November, world leaders and their negotiating teams convened for the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC – COP27. The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference follows on from COP26 held in Glasgow in November 2021, and this year is hosted by Egypt in Sharm El-Sheikh. As the host of COP26, the UK has held the COP Presidency since November 2021, and handed on this baton to Egypt on Sunday.

The destination that global societies need to reach is very clear – to put measures in place to avoid the worst impacts of dangerous climate change, which will require a rapid reduction in emissions.

To do this, world Governments collectively agreed at COP21 in 2015 to limit global warming to well below 2°C relative to pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C, which means that globally emissions need to reach net zero by the middle of this century. This was further referenced in the Glasgow Climate Pact at COP26 in 2021, when Governments committed to ‘keeping 1.5°C alive’.

“Egypt’s COP27 Presidency vision is to move from negotiations and planning to implementation”, according to the COP27 website. They are calling COP27, “A defining moment in the fight against climate change”, and acknowledge that, “Science has established beyond doubt that the window for action is closing rapidly”.

You can read the COP27 statement by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the link below.

Negotiations and events

As well as the central negotiations, side events take place throughout the two-week period of COP27 – these include UN events and those held at a large number of Pavilions at the conference centre. Find out more at the links below:

Met Office COP27 events

During COP27, the Met Office is involved in a number of events at which we will be sharing the latest climate science and other expertise. Follow #MetOfficeCOP27 for details of event live streams and recordings.

Met Office COP27 webinars

In the lead up to COP27 the Met Office has hosted a series of webinars on priority themes. These are now available to watch on demand.

The first webinar took place on Friday 7 October. Climate adaptation: Africa on the frontline included speakers from the Met Office, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre.

Click here to watch the webinar on demand

The second webinar was on Thursday 13 October. How can science and services help global food supply? included speakers from the Met Office, the University of the West of England, Defra and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Click here to watch the webinar on demand

The final webinar took place on Monday 31 October. Pathways to 1.5°C included speakers from the Met Office, University College London, BEIS and the University of Leeds.

Click here to watch the webinar on demand

Mostly Climate podcast

As leaders gather at COP27, Met Office Presenter Clare Nasir and Met Office Senior Press Officer Grahame Madge discuss some of the key talking points on our Mostly Climate podcast.

In the news

WMO State of the Global Climate report

On Sunday the World Meteorological Organization published the annual provisional State of the Global Climate report for 2022.

Based on contributions of dozens of international organisations and experts, the report reveals details of temperatures, key climate indicators and associated impacts. Highlights include:

- Concentrations of major greenhouse gases continued to increase in 2019 and 2020

- Global mean temperature in 2022 is on course to be one of the six warmest on record. All of the world's warmest eight years have been from 2015.

- Since the start of the satellite record (1993) observations indicate that the global sea level has been rising at an average rate of 3.4mm per year

With input from Met Office climate scientists, the report shows how high-impact events including extreme heat, wildfires and floods, as well as the record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season, affected millions of people. It informs governments, international agencies and the public about significant weather and climate trends and events at global and regional levels.

For more information on the key indicators of climate change, see our climate dashboard.

What's coming up

Climate data training

Our next ‘Climate data for reporting and decision making’ online course is happening again in January. It is designed by Met Office experts to help consultants, analysts and those in similar roles navigate, interpret and communicate climate data to carry out climate change risk assessments, limit exposure or protect infrastructure & operations.

The online course will include a mixture of three interactive online workshops and free independent e-learning. It is designed to facilitate knowledge sharing and networking and provides the opportunity to ask questions and gain feedback from Met Office climate data experts.

Why attend this course?

• Enhance your skillset and become proficient in analysing, interpreting and communicating climate data effectively.
• Gain confidence by learning from our climate data experts.
• Advance your organisation by learning to leverage evidence-based insights to inform business strategy and adaptation plans, feed into climate reporting and help meet regulatory requirements.
• Make a lasting impact by developing your ability to carry out basic climate change risk assessments to help make smart and informed business decisions and build your organisation’s long-term resilience to climate change.

Find out more, including dates and how to register:

Impacts of weather and climate extremes on the UK food chain - workshops

Changing weather and climate extremes such as drought, flooding, heatwaves and storm surges will have significant impacts right across UK food systems.

This online, interactive and interdisciplinary workshop will bring together a broad community across academia, industry, policy, government, NGOs and beyond to scope the adaptation and policy responses needed, and the consequences.

We will work together to identify critical uncertainties, scenarios and quick wins, and deliver a summary paper that informs future funding priorities and supports decision making in policy and industry.

There are two separate (and different) events:

Part 1 (13th January 2023): Scoping adaptation and policy responses and their consequences

Part 2 (20th January 2023): Identifying critical uncertainties, scenarios and quick wins

Our key speakers, Prof. Gideon Henderson (Defra Chief Scientist), and Judith Batchelar OBE (Food Matters International) will open Day 1 of the event on 13 January, and offer their reflections at the close of the event on 20 January (Day 2).

This workshop is organised by the Met Office, and supported by Defra, the Food Standards Agency, UKRI-BBSRC, The Global Food Security Programme, the Universities of Exeter, Leeds, Reading, Bristol, and University College London.

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