International climate policy is failing to keep pace with the challenges of the climate crisis

Bonn (June 18th, 2026). The UN climate negotiations in Bonn, which came to a close yesterday, have made it clear that there is still a lot of work to be done before the UN Climate Change Conference COP31 in November. From the perspective of the environmental and development organisation Germanwatch, progress has been made in some technical areas of the negotiations. ‘Overall, however, the talks proceeded too slowly and were too contentious to lay the groundwork for a successful global climate conference,’ concludes Laura Schäfer, Head of Division for International Climate Policy at Germanwatch.

Schäfer continues: ‘The global climate crisis is accelerating. And there are already three times as many people suffering from hunger on the planet today as there were in 2016. Due to the prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the onset of the El Niño event, the number of people affected is likely to rise significantly in the coming months. However, amid the energy crisis stemming from the war in Iran, we are also currently witnessing the greatest progress in climate action worldwide since the 2015 Paris Agreement. Yet the UN climate negotiations in Bonn have failed to demonstrate the capacity to act in a way that does justice to these realities.’

Particularly damaging to the debate is the fact that the U.S., as well as many other industrialized countries—presumably including Germany—are scaling back their international climate financing and are therefore unlikely to meet the commitments they made just a few years ago. ‘Bonn has already revealed the central lines of conflict that will also shape COP31. It is now up to the Turkish-Australian dual Presidency of the COP to present a clear political roadmap that overcomes deadlock, accelerates the implementation of existing decisions, and raises global ambition,’ Schäfer continues. ‘At the same time, it became clear that the UN climate process itself must evolve. Future COP Presidencies and the UN Climate Secretariat should actively advance this reform process forward.’

Questions about international climate finance ran through the entire negotiations, even though no formal decisions on climate finance were on the agenda. ‘Many countries in the Global South are asking the legitimate question of where the financial resources for implementing concrete measures in the areas of electrification, just transition, or adaptation to climate change are supposed to come from. No answers to this question emerged during the negotiations in Bonn. However, progress across all negotiating tracks requires clear and reliable financing commitments from wealthier countries such as Germany. We therefore view Australia’s plans to make continued funding for climate funds and simplified access to existing resources a priority at the pre-conference ahead of the upcoming UN Climate Change Conferencee as a positive sign. Industrialized countries should, for example, commission a high-level expert report for this pre-conference or by COP at the latest, and provide clarity on how the necessary funds can be raised despite current budget constraints,’ says Ute Sudmann, Head of Division for Future-proof Finance at Germanwatch.

More pioneering initiatives are needed

A dominant buzzword during the negotiations was “implementation. Petter Lydén, Co-Head of Division for International Climate Policy at Germanwatch, says: ‘The Paris Agreement and its rulebook were adopted by consensus in 2015. According to the Paris Agreement, implementation is a nationally driven process and does not require consensus among all states. It is clear that a small group of countries seeks to slow down the rapidly accelerating process of the global energy transition. That is why frontrunner countries must take responsibility and lead the way. This applies, for example, to phasing out fossil fuels, accelerating the expansion of renewable energy—including for people who need support to do so—and investing in resilient infrastructure. We need to see more such initiatives at the COP in November. Turkey’s announcement that it intends to have a global electrification target of 35 percent electricity in final energy consumption by 2035 at the COP is a positive sign in this regard. This now needs to be backed up by national targets and commentments from the European Union, and the EU, including Germany.’

Many questions also remain regarding adaptation to the consequences of the climate crisis. In particular, the design of the indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation and how to ensure the promised tripling of funding for adaptation remain unclear as countries couldn’t agree on a text. ‘Particularly vulnerable countries need binding commitments that they will receive effective support in dealing with the consequences of the climate crisis. The growing impact of extreme weather events on food security, water availability, and economic stability shows that resilience is no longer a task for the future, but an immediate political necessity,’ concludes Laura Schäfer.