New Delhi: Seven months after the COP26 in Glasgow, countries across the world have sent their delegations to Germany’s Bonn for another set of climate change negotiations.
However, rather like in Glasgow, the Bonn conference has witnessed developing countries raise concerns with their developed counterparts about climate finance as well as loss and damage caused by climate change.
Called the Bonn Climate Conference, the 6-16 June summit is expected to lay the ground for COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, later this year.
The summit is different from the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP), the 26th summit of which was held between 31 October and 12 November in the United Kingdom’s Glasgow.
For one thing, the Bonn summit is being led by COP’s two Subsidiary Bodies. While the COP is the decision making body formed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change — the Subsidiary Bodies are what Ulka Kelkar, director of the climate programme at the World Resources Institute India, describes as the “working wings” of the COP.
For another, although less glamorous than the COP26 — which saw over 120 world leaders and more than 40,000 participants in attendance — the Bonn Climate Conference will set in motion what was decided at the COP26 while continuing negotiations on matters related to climate mitigation (reducing emissions), adaptation (adjusting to climate change), and finance (for mitigation and adaptation), among others.
The COP26 resulted in the adoption of the Glasgow Pact, with countries pledging to cut emissions to halt global warming.
“This is a different set up from the flash and pomp of the COPs, which is attended by world leaders and announcements are made. Here, the technical and actionable items of what is announced at the COP are taken forward,” Avantika Goswami, programme manager, climate change at the Centre for Science and Environment, explained.
“The purpose of this conference is to advance those technical discussions so they can be adopted at the next COP,” she added.
But groups of developing countries — including India – have expressed unhappiness at the agendas for both Subsidiary Bodies saying that they limit the space to discuss climate adaptation, a crucial aspect for poorer countries to cope with climate change.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, “adaptation refers to adjustments in ecological, social, or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli and their effects or impacts”.
Another demand from developing countries is more time and space to discuss loss and damage, which refers to the destruction resulting from climate change — a topic that has been sidelined so far.
ThePrint explains what the Bonn Climate Conference is, why it’s important and why developing countries want out of the discussions.
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A rough start
There are two Subsidiary Bodies under COP. The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) provides negotiators with the scientific and technical knowledge needed to inform their discussions focusing on climate impacts, vulnerability adaptation, and the development of new technologies. The Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), on the other hand, is concerned with the implementation of various climate agreements.
The common goal, as stated in the 2015 Paris Agreement and endorsed in the COP26, is to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, exceeding which life on earth will become increasingly difficult.
However, the responsibilities of climate change are not evenly distributed, with richer countries contributing the most, and neither are its effects, with poor countries being the most impacted.
The Subsidiary Bodies’ work is significant because it facilitates countries to move towards their climate goals, while providing them with a blueprint to do so, Kelkar told ThePrint.
“In other words, the two Subsidiary Bodies divide the technical groundwork required for negotiations at the next COP conference,” she said.
The COP26 negotiations saw developing countries like India demand that richer countries increase their climate ambitions while paying their dues to poorer ones. These issues are likely to spill over into the talks currently underway at Bonn.
Already, at the opening of the conference, Diego Pacheco, the lead negotiator for Bolivia and representing the Like-Minded Developing Countries — a formal negotiating group that has 20 countries, including China, India, Malaysia and Indonesia — said: “It’s incredible to see how developing countries have to fight to achieve balance in climate negotiations”, adding that it was unfortunate that time was limited in the areas that are of “highest priority” for developing countries.
“The less time there is to negotiate, the less pressure there is to commit to issues like climate adaptation,” explained Sanjay Vashist, director of the Climate Action Network South Asia. “If there isn’t enough time to discuss something, it’s easier for richer, developed countries to get out of making firm commitments,” he told ThePrint.
Developing countries as well as civil society organisations are also pushing for a loss and damage finance facility, which can mobilise finance meant specifically for the purposes of rehabilitation in the wake of climate change.
Loss and Damage Finance Now and it's time to put it on the negotiation Agenda! Voices coming together in the Bonn conference putting forth this important ask as negotiations are underway. #LossAndDamage pic.twitter.com/cvJ0R1KPAK
— Arpitha Kodiveri (@arpithakodiveri) June 7, 2022
What to look out for
Countries like India are particularly interested in the agenda items that further discussions on adaptation, loss and damage, and climate finance.
Developed countries were meant to mobilise $100 billion in climate finance by 2020 — a goal that has not been achieved, and is unlikely to be fulfilled before 2023. Out of the climate finance that has been raised, only 20 per cent has gone towards climate adaptation, while 50 per cent is towards climate mitigation.
The need for climate finance has since risen to $5.8-5.9 trillion, according to estimates by a UN group.
“There is a quantified goal for climate change mitigation — limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. But there’s no set goal for climate adaptation, and that’s what needs to be discussed,” said Vashist, adding, “We also need a new finance goal because the current pledges are totally insufficient.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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