Bonn, Germany (June 16, 2022) – The UN climate negotiations in Bonn conclude today with mixed results. Vulnerable countries and civil society expressed disappointment that more progress was not made to provide funding for vulnerable countries to deal with losses and damages from climate change. The pressure is now on for leaders to make more decisive progress at diplomatic gatherings and elsewhere leading up to the COP27 Summit in Egypt. 

Following is a statement from David Waskow, Director International Climate Action, World Resources Institute: 

“This UN meeting elevated the severe losses and damages that vulnerable countries face from climate change higher than any negotiations have before but failed to clarify how to address the problem. While developed countries acknowledged the need to deal with such damages, they rebuffed requests from vulnerable nations to work toward establishing a new funding mechanism. 

“Perhaps the most decisive outcome from these talks is that developed countries now realize that the chorus calling for solutions to loss and damage is only getting louder and addressing this issue is a central measure of success for the UN climate summit in Egypt.  

“Now the pressure is on for leaders to pick up the slack and use upcoming diplomatic gatherings to deliver the political momentum that is needed ahead of COP27. Key opportunities include the G7 Summit and Petersberg Dialogue. 

“Heightened attention to growing impacts must also lead to stronger climate action across the board, from dramatically cutting emissions and protecting forests to providing support for vulnerable countries facing the increasingly severe consequences of an overheating world.  

“At Bonn, countries did move the ball on assessing countries’ collective progress on tackling the climate crisis, known as the Global Stocktake. If done right, the Global Stocktake could culminate next year with countries agreeing to new political commitments that deliver breakthrough climate solutions across sectors, access to finance and more.  

“The benchmarks for success for COP27 are now coming into focus. It is vital for major emitters to strengthen their emission reduction targets and for developed countries to demonstrate solidarity with vulnerable nations by rallying behind financial support to address loss and damage, build resilience to climate impacts and accelerate a just transition to cleaner sources of energy. The world will also be watching Sharm el-Sheikh to hold countries, businesses, cities and others accountable for the stunning number of commitments profiled at COP26 last year.” 

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