The recently concluded Bonn Climate Change Conference centered its discussions on key themes to lay the groundwork for important political decisions leading up to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) scheduled for the end of this year.
With more than 4,800 participants from around the globe, the Bonn meeting facilitated progress on critical climate change issues, including climate financing, loss and damage, global stocktake, and adaptation.
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell acknowledged the lengthy process of agreeing on an agenda due to differing ideologies and concerns as cited in Bonn. However, he expressed optimism about the potential for finding common ground through understanding and negotiation, which could lead to world-changing agreements. “World-changing agreements happen when negotiators rise to the occasion, reach out and find compromises, then manage to convince their capitals of the merit and necessity of those compromises,” said Stiell.
Global Stocktake, a Party-driven process that provides transparency and involves non-Party stakeholders, was a significant focus of the discussions.
The technical dialogue on global stocktake laid the foundation for its conclusion during COP28. Talks revolved around accelerating collective progress on mitigation, adaptation, loss, and damage, and means of implementation, such as climate finance, technology transfer, and capacity building.
Stiell emphasized that the current pledges and their implementation fall short, making the response to the stocktake crucial for the success of COP28 and for stabilizing the climate.
The global stocktake serves as an opportunity to make course corrections and align the world with the temperature limitations outlined in the Paris Agreement. The Bonn conference delegates aimed to evaluate the global status of climate action and support, identify gaps, and chart a solution-based path forward.
Another significant topic at the Bonn Climate Conference was climate finance. The conference emphasized the need for adequate and predictable financial support to enable developing countries to take climate action.
This included setting a new collective quantified goal for climate finance in 2024 to support the implementation of climate response actions in developing nations. Parties also agreed on structural elements for a Dubai decision regarding the global goal of adaptation.
Discussions in Bonn also focused on maximizing support from existing funding arrangements while considering coherence, complementarity, and coordination. The Transitional Committee will make recommendations on how to operationalize the new loss and damage fund and funding arrangements, which will be considered and adopted at COP28.
In early September, the co-facilitators of the technical dialogue in Bonn will publish a synthesis report capturing the key findings from the three dialogue meetings. The report will provide technical information, highlight good practices, and share lessons learned to help Parties and non-Party stakeholders identify necessary actions to course-correct and achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
COP28 is scheduled to take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from November 30 to December 12 of this year. It will be preceded by four Regional Climate Weeks: Africa Climate Week in Nairobi, Kenya (September 4-8); Middle East and North Africa Climate Week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (October 8-12); Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week in Panama City, Panama (October 23-27); and Asia-Pacific Climate Week in Johor, Malaysia (dates to be announced soon).
