United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday offered a firm defense of science and weather forecasting, commending the UN’s weather agency for its critical role in saving lives through global climate disaster monitoring.

Speaking at a special session of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Guterres praised the agency’s contributions at a time when science is under political attack in the United States, where President Donald Trump has dismissed climate change as “a con job” and led an anti-science campaign.

A strong advocate for climate action, Guterres highlighted the importance of expanding early-warning systems that enable both developed and developing countries to prepare for floods, storms, wildfires, and heat waves.

“Without your long-term monitoring, we wouldn’t benefit from the warnings and guidance that protect communities and save millions of lives and billions of dollars each year,” he said, referring to “the dangerous and existential threat of climate change.”

His comments came after the WMO revealed last week that concentrations of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surged by the largest annual increase ever recorded, reaching levels unprecedented in human history and fueling more extreme weather events.

Guterres hailed WMO scientists and staff as the “quiet force that illuminates all the rational climate decisions that we take.”

“Scientists and researchers should never be afraid to tell the truth,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has imposed deep funding cuts on the U.S. National Weather Service and dismissed hundreds of meteorologists and staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, weakening the country’s weather forecasting capacity.