The Bonn Climate Change Conference closed on Thursday, June 15, 2023, after two weeks of intense work that made progress on several critical issues, helping lay the groundwork for the political decisions required at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) at the end of the year.
“Having taken nearly two weeks to agree an agenda, it is easy to believe we are far apart on many issues, but from what I have seen and heard, there are bridges that can be built to realize the common ground we know exists,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell.
“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,” Stiell added.
At the Bonn meeting, progress was reportedly made on issues of critical importance, including the global stocktake, climate finance, loss and damage, and adaptation, among many others.
It singled out the global stocktake, which will conclude at COP28, as a moment to course correct to get the world on track to limiting the temperature rise in line with the Paris Agreement.
Delegates at the Bonn conference wrapped up the last meeting of the technical dialogue of the first global stocktake – laying the ground for more ambitious climate action.
Steill said, “So, the response to the stocktake will determine our success – the success of COP28, and far more importantly, success in stabilizing our climate.”
In Bonn, government delegates, observers and experts took part in the stocktake’s third and final technical dialogue, which was comprised of a series of roundtables and events spread across six days. They discussed how to accelerate collective progress on mitigation, including response measures; adaptation; loss and damage; and means of implementation (climate finance, technology transfer, and capacity building).
