The 2024 Bonn Climate Conference marked a pivotal moment for global climate negotiations, serving as the first significant opportunity for parties to delve into the implementation strategies of the first Global Stocktake (GST) decision. Adopted at the 2023 Dubai Climate Change Conference, this landmark decision underscores the urgent need for countries to actively participate in global efforts aimed at transitioning away from fossil fuels within this decade.
Key aspects of the GST decision include a comprehensive assessment of collective progress towards the Paris Agreement’s goals, identifying gaps, and recommending enhanced actions. The emphasis is on fostering a shift towards sustainable energy systems, which is crucial for mitigating climate change impacts. The decision calls for significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, promoting renewable energy sources, and enhancing energy efficiency measures.
During the Bonn Conference, parties engaged in detailed discussions on how to operationalize these mandates. The dialogue encompassed various strategies, including policy reforms, financial mechanisms, technology transfer, and capacity building. Countries shared their national experiences, challenges, and best practices, aiming to develop a cohesive and effective global response.
The conference also provided a platform for stakeholders, including governments, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector, to collaborate and align their efforts. This collaborative approach is essential to achieving the ambitious targets set forth in the GST decision. By fostering international cooperation and ensuring inclusive participation, the Bonn Climate Conference aims to drive forward the global climate agenda and catalyze meaningful action towards a sustainable, fossil-free future.
It also “encourages the next round of nationally determined contributions (NDCs), due in February 2025, to include ambitious, economy-wide emission reduction targets aligned with the objective to limit global warming to 1.5°C.” “Many hoped this would be a necessary course correction to stave off the most dangerous effects of climate change and ensure that the… UNFCCC is fit for purpose,” the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) summary report of the meeting notes, but the Bonn Climate Change Conference did not leave delegates optimistic.
The talks made little progress in defining the modalities of a new dialogue on implementing the GST outcome, revealing “entrenched disagreements” over whether the dialogue’s scope should cover means of implementation, especially finance, or extend to the implementation of all elements of the GST decision.
Progress on the mitigation work programme eluded delegates as well. According to the ENB analysis of the meeting, this was “[p]erhaps the greatest frustration for many participants” as they were even unable to agree to invite intersessional submissions or capture Bonn discussions to inform deliberations at the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024. Many groups and parties emphasized that mitigation action should not be a “taboo topic” in the UN climate process.
The lack of progress on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GCA), on the identification of research needs and the timeliness of inputs by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and on the new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG), which is to be defined prior to 2025, also left many disappointed. ENB notes that agreement on the latter “will define the trajectory of climate action for years to come, making it a crucial issue to sort out.”
In addition, many sensed the process “has really ballooned,” challenging delegations as well as the Secretariat who are finding it increasingly more difficult to cope.
The Bonn Climate Change Conference convened from 3-13 June 2024 in Bonn, Germany. It included the 60th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), 30 mandated events, and a series of side events. [ENB Coverage of 2024 Bonn Climate Change Conference]
