Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoCHINA / AI METEOROLOGICAL FORUM
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: CHINA / AI METEOROLOGICAL FORUM
TRT: 02:37
SOURCE: COURTESY OF WAIC2026
RESTRICTIONS: CREDIT WAIC2026 ON SCREEN
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 JULY 2026, SHANGHAI, CHINA
1. Wide shot, the World Artificial Intelligence Conference Meteorological Forum
2. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“As we meet, an El Niño is gathering strength in the Pacific. Floods, storms, wildfires and droughts will strike even harder. Yet the world remains woefully unprepared. Many countries still lack the most basic protection.”
3. Med shot, display item at the demonstration for the Secretary-General at MAZU (Multi-hazard, Alert, Zero-gap and Universal) - China's solution for supporting global early warning capacity development
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Adaptation is a lifeline. Yet adaptation finance remains a fraction of what vulnerable countries need. Developed countries have a duty to close that gap – with support that matches the scale of the crisis.”
5. Wide shot, the Secretary-General at the demonstration at MAZU
6. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I launched the Early Warnings for All initiative to help ensure every person on earth is protected. The same objective is promoted by China’s action plan on early warning for climate change adaptation, and by this fantastic AI instrument of the CMA, that is called MAZU.”
7. Wide shot, the Secretary-General at the demonstration at MAZU
8. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“And I see three tests for AI in early warning. First – observations and data. No matter how powerful technology becomes, artificial intelligence cannot compensate for missing data. The entire African continent has fewer stations meeting the standards of the Global Basic Observation Network than some individual European countries.”
9. Wide shot, the Secretary-General at the demonstration at MAZU
10. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Second – capacity and trust. The countries most vulnerable to climate disasters often have the least access to these technologies. This must change. They need the capacity to develop, operate and sustain these systems. Warnings must reach every person at risk, in languages they understand and through channels they can trust.”
11. Wide shot, the Secretary-General at the demonstration at MAZU
12. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I have called on every major AI company to power its data centres with renewable energy by 2030, and to disclose its full environmental footprint. Technology aimed at protecting people must also protect the planet.”
13. Med shot, display item at the demonstration for the Secretary-General at MAZU
14. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Early-warning systems are an economic imperative. A development imperative. A security imperative. And above all, a matter of climate justice. The technology is here.”
15. Various shots, Secretary-General touring the exhibition
16. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Well, it is a fantastic new world, but a new world the benefit of people. It's not machines for machines, it's machines that are conceived to support people and to allow everybody to benefit, not just a few. And this is what is beautiful in the cooperation that the People's Republic of China is establishing with other countries.”
17. Wide shot, view of Shanghai
Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the 'Dialogue on Early Warnings for All in Response to Climate Change' at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference Meteorological Forum in Shanghai, China. He called for accelerated progress on AI-powered early warning systems to prevent climate disasters.
Guterres said, “As we meet, an El Niño is gathering strength in the Pacific. Floods, storms, wildfires and droughts will strike even harder. Yet the world remains woefully unprepared. Many countries still lack the most basic protection.”
He stressed that financing for adaptation still falls far short of what is needed. “Adaptation is a lifeline. Yet adaptation finance remains a fraction of what vulnerable countries need. Developed countries have a duty to close that gap – with support that matches the scale of the crisis,” he said.
The UN chief linked the Chinese system to his own global push on the issue. “I launched the Early Warnings for All initiative to help ensure every person on earth is protected. The same objective is promoted by China’s action plan on early warning for climate change adaptation, and by this fantastic AI instrument of the CMA, that is called MAZU,” he noted.
Guterres then laid out three tests he said AI must pass to be useful in early warning systems, beginning with data. “No matter how powerful technology becomes, artificial intelligence cannot compensate for missing data. The entire African continent has fewer stations meeting the standards of the Global Basic Observation Network than some individual European countries,” he said.
The second test, he added, is capacity and trust. “The countries most vulnerable to climate disasters often have the least access to these technologies. This must change. They need the capacity to develop, operate and sustain these systems. Warnings must reach every person at risk, in languages they understand and through channels they can trust.”
Finally, turning to the environmental cost of the technology itself, the Secretary-General renewed his call for the AI industry to clean up its own footprint. “I have called on every major AI company to power its data centres with renewable energy by 2030, and to disclose its full environmental footprint. Technology aimed at protecting people must also protect the planet,” he stated.
He framed early warning systems as more than a technical fix. “Early-warning systems are an economic imperative. A development imperative. A security imperative. And above all, a matter of climate justice. The technology is here,” Guterres said.
Reflecting on China's role in the effort as he moved through the exhibition, he remarked, “It is a fantastic new world, but a new world the benefit of people. It's not machines for machines, it's machines that are conceived to support people and to allow everybody to benefit, not just a few. And this is what is beautiful in the cooperation that the People's Republic of China is establishing with other countries.”
