The World Meteorology Organisation (WMO) and the World Energy & Meteorology Council (WEMC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to make climate and weather information and knowledge more readily available to the energy sector.

Faced with growing worldwide energy demand and a massive transformation of in the way energy is supplied, the sector is increasingly seeking to harness the weather, – for instance sun and wind – also helping to achieve low-emission power. This necessitates meteorological information, to predict power generation and maintain capacity to meet demand. Helping the energy sector operate more effectively and efficiently is at the heart of the new agreement.

This partnership will identify and supply the types and formats of climate information products needed by the energy industry for the planning, design, operation and maintenance of energy systems throughout the world, to account for current and future climate.

It also formalises the co-operation of the two organisations in support of Sustainable Development Goal 7 to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”

The two organisations share the mutual goals of enhancing international knowledge for addressing climate variability and change in the context of energy security, energy efficiency and clean energy, and promoting the protection of energy systems from weather and climate extremes.

“Addressing climate change will require a transformation of the entire energy sector“, says Dr Dilley, Director of WMO Climate Prediction and Adaptation. “This will entail the development of new services for helping the sector manage the transition to renewable sources, such as wind, solar and hydropower, which are highly sensitive to climate and weather.

“Partnering with WEMC will assist National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in WMO member countries to provide these services and assist WMO member countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and make their Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris climate change Agreement.”

WEMC Managing Director, Prof Alberto Troccoli says: “We believe the partnership will help build resilient and sustainable energy systems, better meeting societal needs. We want to provide deeper and broader energy-climate analysis and recommendations to stakeholders with a view to improving energy sustainability and achieving our goal of mutually beneficial relationships between the meteorology and energy sectors. This MOU will enhance co-operation and ultimately improve planning, policy and operational activities of the energy sector.

“WEMC will benefit from the expertise of a large community of meteorologists, with established structures, standards and documentation and WMO will benefit from an improved use of meteorological knowledge by being better linked to the energy sector.”

Among other things, the strengthening of the partnership will facilitate the implementation of projects on climate services for energy in developing and middle income countries. To support such projects, a joint training course is also being developed alongside the International Conference on Energy and Meteorology (ICEM), organised by WEMC, to be held this year (22-24 May) in Shanghai, China.

Additional areas of co-operation will include methods for promoting climate change energy resiliency and access, energy research and development, and technology deployment, training and capacity building, and data, information and statistics.