THE United Nations’ mid-year climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany, have ended in deadlock.
Developing countries warned that wealthy nations were failing to honour promises made to vulnerable communities that were already facing the worst effects of climate change.
The two-week talks, SB64, are intended to lay the groundwork for the next UN climate summit, COP31, to be held in Antalya, Turkey, this year. Negotiators failed to reach agreement, however, on a key issue: the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), which is the guidance framework for countries preparing for a worsening conditions.
The deadlock centred on finance. African and other developing nations had pushed for action that reflects the commitment made at last year’s COP30 meeting in Belém in Brazil — to triple adaptation finance by 2035 (News, 28 November 2025) — and resisted attempts by developed countries to water this down. In the end, the issue was pushed forward under “Rule 16” — a UN term for lack of agreement.
LARA MURILLO/UN CLIMATE CHANGEDelegates at the summit in Bonn, last week
The impasse has alarmed campaigners, who say that the delays will have consequences for communities already living with drought, floods, and food insecurity.
Christian Aid’s head of policy and influencing, Osai Ojigho, said: “Across the world, our partners see first-hand the challenges faced by some of the world’s poorest people as they struggle with the effects of climate change that they did nothing to bring about. The slow progress at the Bonn talks reflects a dangerous gap between commitments and action.
“Every delay in delivering the finance needed for communities to adapt and build resilience, and in setting clear, credible pathways to cut emissions and address loss and damage, erodes trust and deepens injustice. It is a betrayal of the promises made at previous COPs.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Personal Representative to the UN, Martha Jarvis, said that churches had a part to play.
“Where political processes seem to be falling short, Churches can show a different way is possible,” she said. “Around the world, acting in their local communities, hurches are restoring the environment around them, reckoning with what it means to walk justly and humbly on this earth.
“The Anglican Communion commits to the potential that UN processes have to create change at scale, even as we recognise that nations need to do much more inside and outside COP processes to realise that potential. That is why we are re-prioritising advocacy with national governments, grass-roots action, and young adult attendance at UN events.”
LARA MURILLO/UN CLIMATE CHANGEDelegates at the summit in Bonn, last week
A point of progress in Bonn was the COP31 presidency’s launch of a new global “35 by 35” electrification goal, to increase the global share of energy demand met by electricity from about 20 per cent to 35 per cent by 2035. The target is designed to speed up the shift from the use of fossil fuels in transport, heating, and industry.
Supporters of the move argue that this could strengthen energy security while also cutting emissions, and they welcome the proposal as a practical signal of intent before COP31 in Antalya.
For many observers, however, the wider picture from Bonn was one of frustration.
The global-advocacy lead at Oxfam, Mariana Paoli, said: “At a time when multilateralism faces an existential threat, and rich polluters accelerate the path to climate breakdown, the unwillingness of rich countries to engage meaningfully is astonishing. All governments, particularly the richest and most polluting, must use the months leading up to COP31 to show their leadership in scaling up public climate finance — and do so by cutting out the influence of super-rich polluters and centring the needs of the communities who are at the forefront of the climate crisis.”
Joe Ware is international communications lead for Power Shift Africa.