DEVELOPED COUNTRIES SPENT THE TWO WEEKS IN BONN ERASING BELÉM COMMITMENTS

Delegates at the Bonn Climate Conference in June 2026. | PSA Media

BY MOHAMED ADOW

Big picture

Bonn was meant to build the runway for COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, later in the year. Instead, developed countries spent the two weeks trying to erase from the record a commitment they made just months ago in Belém to triple adaptation finance.

You cannot arrive at a climate summit, make a promise to the most vulnerable people on earth, and then fly home and pretend it never happened. COP31 must be where that promise is kept, not just in writing, but with numbers and timelines attached, and with real support delivered.

GGA deadlock

"The African Group said it plainly: a text without explicit tripling language is not a basis for negotiations. They were right. Developed countries are hiding behind procedural arguments by claiming adaptation finance belongs in some other room, on some other day. But climate disasters don't wait for the right agenda item. Africa is burning and flooding now. COP31 must lock in binding trajectories on adaptation finance, or it will be remembered as the summit where the world looked away.’’

Broader process 

"What we witnessed in Bonn was a stress test for multilateralism, and parts of it failed. Agenda items were blocked, commitments were relitigated, and civil society access faced restrictions. The UNFCCC process only works if all parties play by the rules and honour what they've agreed. We hope COP31 will press the reset button and provide the world with a moment where the multilateral system demonstrates it can still deliver for the people who need it most.

Developed countries came to Bonn to undo what they agreed in Belém. They must not be allowed to do the same in Antalya.”