Bonn climate talks must move focus from pledges to action – NGOs

The international community must demonstrate that it is capable of developing joint solutions to the climate crisis at the upcoming government negotiations in the German city of Bonn, environmental NGO Germanwatch has said. “Where individual countries block progress, it is a matter of groups of pioneering countries resolutely driving forward the implementation of climate protection,” the group’s international climate policy head, Petter Lydén, said.

The Bonn Climate Talks, happening between 8 and 18 June, bring together delegates from around the world to prepare for the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, later in the year.

Beyond being a technical meeting, the talks in Bonn should showcase how countries are implementing their goals, Lydén said. The position was echoed by WWF Germany. “Much more action is needed rather than mere declarations of intent,” the NGO wrote, detailing its expectations. 

One key topic at the negotiations should be international finance for climate adaptation, Oxfam said. “Given the global cuts in development cooperation in 2025 and 2026, support for low-income countries in tackling the climate crisis is at risk of declining significantly,” the NGO wrote. “The focus must be on breathing life into the new climate finance target of at least 300 billion US dollars annually by 2035,” said the organisation’s international climate policy officer Jan Kowalzig.

Germanwatch also highlighted the need to advance on climate finance during the Bonn talks: “The ongoing energy crisis and, above all, the food crisis looming as a result of the fertiliser blockade and the onset of El Niño urgently require concrete action,” it wrote. “Only if adaptation and the management of loss and damage are advanced both politically and in practice can international climate policy meet the challenges of the coming years.” 

The annual climate talks take place against the backdrop of a global energy crisis caused by the war in Iran, which has resulted in supply chain disruptions of liquefied natural gas (LNG), oil products, and fertilisers. 

The Bonn talks follow the first international conference on phasing out fossil fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia, in April. The conference saw nearly 60 governments explore how a “coalition of the willing” could give a fresh impetus to the world’s transition away from climate-damaging fossil fuels, as these efforts continue to stall in formal UN negotiations.