Belgium SOFF leadership
Brussels, 25 June 2025. Ambassador Willem van de Voorde, Belgium’s Special Envoy for Climate and Environment, is becoming the next co-chair of the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF) Steering Committee starting 1 July 2025. He follows Dr Sinead Walsh, Climate Director, Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs, who represented the SOFF funders as co-chair of SOFF’ s decision making body and steered the course of SOFF over the past 12 months, jointly with World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Prof Celeste Saulo as the other co-chair.
At the eve of taking over the co-chairmanship role, Ambassador van de Voorde hosted a high-visibility SOFF roadshow event in Brussels. The event brought together more than 50 representatives from the diplomatic community, financial sector and government to discuss the importance of closing the basic weather and climate data gaps. Closing these gaps is essential to create a stronger foundation for effective climate and development action. The event also provided the occasion to launch the new SOFF video.
Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, and International Cooperation H.E. Maxime Prévot, opened the meeting, emphasizing that “protecting lives and livelihoods is a fair an noble goal. That’s exactly what SOFF is doing. And they are doing it in a fast and effective way with a focus on making a real impact.” He encouraged other partners to follow Belgium’s SOFF leadership and consider contributions to the SOFF UN Fund.
WMO Assistant Secretary-General Thomas Asare alerted on the urgency of closing today’s basic weather and climate data gaps in line with the international standards adopted by the 193 countries and territories of the World Meteorological Congress. ‘We cannot wait. Therefore, SOFF is innovating and scaling up its resource mobilization by developing the SOFF Impact Bond.” This SOFF Impact Bond is envisioned to be announced at the 30th UN Climate Change Conference COP30 in Belém, Brazil in November 2025. This is a concrete contribution to scale up climate finance to USD 1.3 trillion a year.
Dr Daniel Gellens, Director General of the Royal Belgian Meteorological Institute showcased the importance of closing today’s significant data gaps by providing the scientific case and summarizing a recent study undertaken by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The study concludes that Africa would substantially improve its weather forecast quality by reducing forecast errors by more than 30%, if the basic weather and climate data gaps in the continent were closed. Today, the whole African continent has fewer weather stations reporting according to international standards than Germany.
Bhutan is among the 61 countries already benefitting SOFF support and a SOFF frontrunner. The government is committed to deliver its share of basic weather and climate data to the Global Basic Observing Network enabled by SOFF.
H.E. Tshoki Choden, Ambassador of Bhutan to Belgium and the European Union, emphasized, “The support we receive from SOFF is not just technical – it is transformational. It reflects the best of international partnership. It strengthens national capacity, fosters regional cooperation, and ensures that even the smallest voices are part of the global climate information system’. She thanked SOFF for “investing in equity, resilience, and a safer future for all”.
Markus Repnik, Director of the SOFF Secretariat, outlined the objectives of the SOFF Impact Bond: creating impact by increasing data generated and internationally shared by beneficiary countries by at least 500%; broadening the base of SOFF contributors by mobilizing additional bilateral partners and philanthropies; and ‘frontloading’ resources to continue supporting countries at speed, scale and low cost.
Ambassador Willem van de Voorde closed the event stating, “It is now high time to act and go further with this clear win-win situation for contributors and developing countries. Our firm aim is to announce the Impact Bond at COP30 in Belem, as a concrete contribution to the action Plan the Brazilian presidency is preparing.”
About
Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF)
SOFF is a UN specialized fund co-created by WMO, UNDP and UNEP to close the climate and weather observations data gap in countries with the most severe shortfalls in observations, prioritizing Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and SIDS. SOFF provides long term financial and technical assistance to support the acquisition and international sharing of basic weather and climate observations, according to the internationally agreed Global Basic Observing Network (GBON) regulations. SOFF is a foundational element and delivery vehicle of the UN Early Warnings for All Initiative.
Global Basic Observing Network (GBON)
GBON paves the way for a radical overhaul of the international exchange of observational data, which underpins all weather, climate and water services and products. GBON sets the requirements for the acquisition and exchange of basic surface-based observing network designed, defined and monitored at the global level. GBON will improve the availability of the most essential surface-based data, which will have a direct positive impact on the quality of weather forecasts, thus helping improve the safety and well-being of citizens throughout the world.
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