The SB64 climate talks, held in Bonn, Germany, have ended with a deadlock among parties over a proposed text on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA).
As Climate Action Network (CAN) International reported, many developing countries, along with the Africa Group of Nations, ‘drew a line in the sand’ over adaptation negotiations, with a draft text omitting reference to a commitment made at COP30 in Belém to triple adaptation finance.
As a result, negotiations on the GGA will restart at COP31, taking place in Antalya later this year.
‘Killing time’
“Governments arrived in Bonn talking about implementation, but too often they killed time by talking about process,” commented Jacobo Ocharan, head of political strategies at CAN International. “The debate over climate action has changed. The debate over who pays for it, governs it and delivers it has not.
“Across adaptation, just transition, mitigation and finance, progress slowed whenever negotiations reached the decisions needed to turn commitments into reality. Communities facing climate impacts today do not need another review, another dialogue or another workshop about implementation. They need governments to deliver on what they have already promised.”
As CAN International noted, the climate talks revealed a growing frustration among developing countries over what they view as a lack of commitment from developing nations. While the ‘language of climate justice was everywhere’ in Bonn, actions were lacking – with negotiations repeatedly drifting back towards reviews, technical processes, terms of reference and procedural debates.
‘Clear bad faith’
“What we saw in Bonn was clear bad faith and unwillingness by developed countries to make progress on the most important issue on Adaptation: the Global Goal on Adaptation,” added Pooja Dave, Adaptation Policy Coordinator at Climate Action Network International. “You cannot implement the GGA without finance. Yet continued attention was given to the technical processes, while progress on adaptation finance remained limited. Developed countries largely focused discussions on the Technical Task Force, while developing countries stressed that all GGA mandates matter – including the commitment to triple adaptation finance.
“For communities already living through floods, droughts and extreme heat, implementation is not about measuring Adaptation. It is about making it possible. Countries on the frontlines already know what they need to do. The question is whether they will receive the finance and support needed to do it.”
Looking ahead to COP31 later this year, CAN International said that a key test will be whether countries can move beyond procedural negotiations towards providing the finance and political support needed to accelerate climate adaptation. Read more here. [Photo Credit: Lara Murillo / UN Climate Change]
