The Road to COP 26: the Bonn Climate Change Conference

After three weeks of intense round-the-clock negotiations, the UN Bonn Climate Change Conference came to a close on 17 June 2021. These sessions bring together the Subsidiary Bodies for Scientific and Technological Advice and for Implementation – the main governing bodies under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Unlike previous editions of the conference, this year’s sessions took place entirely virtually. Despite several technological challenges and having exchanges across different time zones, an ambitious agenda and the spirit of commitment allowed Parties to make headway on a backlog of work accumulated after the 2020 sessions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2021 session focussed on advancing the work on outstanding issues that derive from mandates included in the Katowice Rulebook and need to be concluded at COP26.

In its closing statement, the EU welcomed the progress made over the three weeks, and called on Parties to continue to build convergence on the various issues before meeting again in person in Glasgow in November. There is still plenty of work ahead if we are to arrive in Glasgow fully prepared to take decisions essential to the implementation of the Paris Agreement by all Parties.

We welcome the offer of the incoming UK COP Presidency to convene ministers to begin to narrow differences on the key political issues that continue to divide us. The incoming UK COP Presidency has the EU’s full support and we look forward to a continued good cooperation on the way to Glasgow.

Expectations remain high in the coming months for Parties that have not yet done so to submit or enhance their Nationally Determined Contributions and Long-Term Strategies, to submit or strengthen their adaptation communications and scale up their pledges of financial support.

The Bonn sessions also hosted meetings of the Convention’s “constituted bodies,” the technical groupings that address issues as diverse as technology transfer, climate finance, adaptation, loss and damage, and implementation and compliance.

The UN negotiations took place online from 31 May to 17 June, ahead of the next UN climate conference (COP26), 1-12 November 2021 in Glasgow, UK.