Context: The 62nd Bonn Climate Change Conference was held in Germany in June 2025. This mid-year meeting sets the stage for key negotiations ahead of COP30 in Belem, Brazil.
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key highlights of Bonn Climate Change Conference.
About Bonn Climate Change Conference:
- An annual mid-year meeting held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
- The conference usually takes place in June every year.
- The conference is formally known as the Sessions of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (SBs).
- Along with the annual Conference of the Parties (COP), it is the only other regular climate summit hosted by the UNFCCC.
Objectives:
- To discuss technical and scientific aspects of climate negotiations, and set the agenda for COP, which usually takes place in November.
The results of the negotiations in Bonn are highly influential on decisions made at the COP.
Key Highlights of the Bonn Climate Change Conference 2025:
Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA):
- The Paris Agreement established GGA to reduce vulnerability to climate change, enhance adaptive capacity, and strengthen resilience. However, progress on the GGA has been slow, primarily due to the lack of measurable indicators to track implementation and effectiveness.
- At Bonn 2025 :
- About 490 indicators were shortlisted, from 9,000 suggestions with the aim of consolidating them further to about 100 at COP 30. These indicators will be used to track adaptation actions under health, water, agriculture, and infrastructure etc.
- A set of global “headline indicators” will be created which will be complemented by region- or country-specific sub-indicators, ensuring contextual relevance.
- Disagreements persisted around finance and means of implementation.
Mitigation Work Programme (MWP)
- It was created to scale up action to meet the 1.5°C target.
- At Bonn 2025 it was agreed that:
- MWP will remain facilitative and non-punitive.
- No new commitments or obligations will be imposed on countries.
- It will support voluntary cooperation and dialogue among Parties.
- A proposal was made to develop a digital platform to share mitigation tools and experiences.
Loss and Damage Fund:
- The conference noted that the Loss and Damage Fund remains underfunded.
- Proposed to integrate L&D into NDCs and streamlining technical assistance.
- Operational clarity on the Santiago Network could not be achieved.
Just Transition Work Programme:
- Parties emphasised that just transition must be anchored in equity, development rights, and national contexts.
- Social dialogue, labour rights, and meaningful stakeholder engagement, especially that of Indigenous Peoples, were highlighted as foundational to just transition.
- Parties also flagged the economic impacts of unilateral measures, such as carbon border taxes (tariffs imposed on imported goods based on their carbon footprint) and trade barriers, and the role of critical minerals in energy transition.
- Parties agreed to address these issues through linked agenda items, and this would remain a bone of contention at COP30.
Gender Action Plan:
- A new Gender Action Plan was proposed to reflect evolving socio-economic and climate realities.
- However disagreements emerged over key terminology, particularly use of terms like “gender diversity” and “intersectionality”.
- Key thematic areas proposed for inclusion:Unpaid care work, Sexual and reproductive health and Gender-based violence.
Climate Finance:
- There was no formal consensus or breakthrough on climate finance at the Bonn Climate Change Conference 2025, and key decisions were deferred to COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
- The “Baku to Belém” Roadmap aimed at mobilising $1.3 trillion annually in climate finance was acknowledged as a consultation process, but no agreement was reached on its operational structure.