SB64 Update: Closing the First Week of Negotiations in Bonn
As we close the first week of the Bonn Climate Conference (SB64), the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat (SJES) continues to follow and engage with the negotiations. These first days leave us with a clear message and a double challenge: the urgency of acting now and the political difficulty of turning promises into real and just action.
The UNFCCC is seeking to move into an era of implementation, yet delivery continues to lag behind the scale of the climate crisis. Throughout this week, discussions have shown that political will remains uneven and that vulnerable countries and communities continue to bear the heaviest burden in areas such as the just transition, adaptation, and loss and damage.
A notable development was the first UN climate dialogue focused on trade and climate change, where participants discussed how trade can help countries access cleaner technologies, while also warning of the risks and costs that new rules could impose on developing countries.
Another major moment was the COP30 Presidency’s open dialogue on transparency, participation, and integrity in the UN climate process. Civil society representatives, Indigenous Peoples, women, and frontline communities stressed that participation must be safe and meaningful, include robust conflict-of-interest safeguards, and be protected from reprisals. This demand reflects a growing sentiment: the climate process itself must live up to the principles of justice it calls for globally.
Amid these tensions, the Network of Catholic Climate and Environment Actors (NCCEA) has maintained strong advocacy efforts to highlight the moral and theological imperative behind our presence at climate negotiations. Through press conferences and public statements, we have echoed the call for climate finance to reach people on the ground, for it not to create new forms of extractivism in regions such as the Amazon, and for any transition to be truly just by integrating human rights and gender justice as indispensable pillars.
If negotiations are to retain credibility, they must deliver stronger outcomes, fairer participation, and more robust safeguards. Only by working together can we truly forge lasting change.
We invite you to continue this journey with us during the second week of negotiations. Read the full update and follow our special coverage on the Global Ignatian Advocacy Network (GIAN) website: https://giansj.org/towards-cop31-accompanying-the-un-climate-negotiations-in-bonn-sb64/
Communications Office -Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat (SJES)
Cover photo courtesy of cidse.org
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