Bonn: no justice for people living on the frontlines of climate change

Right now, people around the world are facing devastating floods, cyclones, droughts and heatwaves caused by climate change . Yet this reality wasn't enough for country representatives at the Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB60) to take urgent, tangible action.??

We followed critical climate discussions on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), the Loss and Damage Fund and international climate finance – the outcomes of which can make or break the ability of those on the frontlines of climate change to adapt to its impacts.?

But we were disappointed with what we heard – to put it mildly. Despite good progress at last year’s COP28 and expectations that Bonn would be a pivotal decision-making moment in the lead up to COP29, countries made troublingly little progress.

Here’s a summary of what happened – and what didn't happen.?

Wins for water, sanitation and hygiene?

In negotiations for the GGA and the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience, countries agreed to include the support of experts to define the goal's indicators, including water and sanitation. This is welcome progress, and we are ready and willing to share our knowledge on climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene to help people adapt to climate change.?

Stalemates: what didn't happen at Bonn?

But the discussions struggled to progress much further. Countries disagreed on who should lead the work to define the indicators, what the scope of the work should be, and how much support developed countries should provide to developing countries for implementation. Without commitments of financial support for climate-vulnerable countries, any agreement will tremble like a house of cards and resilience will not be achieved. ?

Climate finance took centre stage at SB60, with negotiations on the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG), scheduled to be decided in Baku. Yet countries discussed pretty much anything but a new target?and the negotiations ended with next to no progress. Instead of defining a transparent, ambitious and needs-based figure, countries laid out red lines, debated the scope of the mandate and finance streams, and reached a deadlock over who needs to pay.?

Lastly, loss and damage discussions – which have become central?in recent climate negotiations – failed to acknowledge the urgency of the climate crisis. New funding was announced at COP28, yet countries still overlooked the scale of climate financing needed right now. Developed and developing countries also came to a stalemate on whether the NCQG should have a separate section on loss and damage finance – yet another decision that has been deferred to COP29.?

Keys to climate justice?

At Bonn, countries failed to focus on what should be at the heart of climate discussions: addressing the needs of the people hardest hit by climate change who have done the least to cause it. In the lead up to COP29, we will keep putting pressure on leaders to progress plans to achieve GGA targets and?support countries to achieve loss and damage finance.?

And we will continue to call, loud and clear, for a drastic and urgent increase in climate finance that is sufficient to fully support adaptation and mitigation needs. Communities who've done the least to cause climate change are picking up the bill for its effects. Delivering the finance needed to ensure they can adapt to these impacts?is not aid: it is justice.?

Adnan Q. is Climate and Water Governance Specialist for WaterAid Bangladesh , Alexia Knappmann is Germany Representative for WaterAid UK, and Tove Lexén is Climate Policy Advisor for WaterAid Sverige .?