Bonn Climate Change Conference – 2023 Starts Today

The 58th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SB 58) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place at the World Conference Center Bonn (WCCB) in Bonn, Germany, from 5 to 15 June 2023.

The Bonn Climate Conference is an opportune occasion to stock take the status of implementation of the outcomes and breakthroughs achieved in Sharm el-Sheikh. It also provides an opportunity to pave the way towards achieving remarkable progress at COP28 in the UAE later this year

In practice, negotiators quickly became bogged down in many of the same issues that have always plagued UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) events. Developed and developing countries clashing over who should pay for the damage caused by climate change, as well as who should make further cuts to their emissions in the coming decade. Vulnerable countries also raise the issue of adaptation to help them better prepare for rising temperatures.

This year’s Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB58) is designed to prepare decisions for adoption at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates in December.

Building on the many mandates that emerged from COP27 in Egypt last year, the conference will convene the 58th session of the UNFCCC subsidiary bodies, including a large number of events. These issues include the global stocktake, the global goal on adaptation, the just transition to sustainable societies, the mitigation work programme and loss and damage, among others.

“For many people around the world, limiting warming of our planet to 1.5 degrees Celsius is a matter of survival. The global stocktake in Bonn is the opportunity of a generation to design a way forward to tackle climate change with fresh vigor and perspective,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell.

The technical phase will conclude at the Bonn Conference, and mark the start of the political phase which will work towards a strong outcome of the first stocktake at COP28.

Another key task at SB58 will be to prepare decisions at COP28 to operationalize the new loss and damage fund and funding arrangements, along with a decision on the host for the Santiago network on loss and damage.

Catalysing technical assistance of relevant organizations, bodies, networks and experts, for the implementation of relevant approaches for averting, minimize and addressing loss and damage at the local, national and regional level, in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh has marked the shift to implementation of the Paris Agreement, resulting in several important outcomes supporting this historic new phase. Parties know what is at stake, and each country now has to deliver.

Several events will touch on climate finance, notably the provision of adequate and predictable financial support to developing countries for climate action, including the new collective quantified goal on climate finance. Other important issues will be increasing the transparency and accountability of climate action and minimizing the impacts that climate change is having on the agriculture and food security sectors.

This is most urgent given that the climate crisis is becoming the new reality and we are forced to deal with its consequences on a daily basis. we must seize this opportunity to strengthen and ensure the Paris temperature goal, keeping the 1.5 degrees within reach, effectively adapting to a changing climate and sufficiently responding to the different forms of losses and damages.

The goal for this decade is clear: We must reduce emissions by 43%. To limit warming to 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as set out in the Paris Agreement, global greenhouse gas emissions will need to peak before 2025. Then they must decline by 43 per cent by 2030 and to net zero by 2050.

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, COP28 President-Designate, said: “The upcoming Bonn sessions are critical for shaping meaningful, pragmatic, and impactful outcomes at COP28. As the incoming Presidency, we will ensure a fair, inclusive, and transparent presidency that provides space for all Parties to reach consensus across the whole agenda. That includes making climate finance more available, accessible, and affordable; doubling adaptation finance, operationalizing the loss and damage fund, tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030; and putting young people, nature, and health at the heart of climate progress.”

Building on the mandates that emerged from COP 27 in Egypt last year, the conference will host a large number of mandated events and continue discussions on issues of critical importance, such as the global stocktake, global goal on adaptation, just transition, loss and damage and the mitigation work programme. The conference is expected to make progress on these and other important issues and prepare draft decisions for adoption at COP 28 in the UAE in December 2023.

The writer of this article is Dr. Seema Javed, an environmentalist & a communications professional in the field of climate and energy