At the opening of technical talks in Bonn ahead of the upcoming COP31 climate summit in Turkey, the official who will head the global talks, Murat Kurum, painted a grim picture of unstable energy markets and growing debt pressure.
Officially dubbed SB64 – for the 64th sessions of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies – the gathering which opened on Monday is seen as the last chance to make serious progress on maintaining global ambition to implement the Paris Agreement before the UN talks in Antalya in November.
“These realities send a clear message,” the designated COp31 President Murat Kurum told attendees in the western German city. “They remind us how risky it is to remain dependent on imported fossil fuels, and how urgent it is to speed up the clean energy transition.”
“If we want Antalya to focus on the highest-level political decisions, we must use this time in Bonn to move the core negotiation tracks forward and reduce the burden that will otherwise fall on COP31,” Kurum said.
“Key processes” like previously agreed greenhouse gas reduction targets, known as the mitigation work programme, and financial aid for poorer countries, known as the just transition work programme, should be “reviewed”, he added.
The last Bonn conference was marked by bickering over agenda points that stalled the talks proper for two days.
Australian minister for climate change and energy, Chris Bowen, who is down as president of negotiations at COP31, spoke of the “worst energy crisis in our history” and pointed to continued temperature rise and intensifying natural disasters.
He was not, however, a pessimist, he said.
“Because the better news is, the answers to these challenges are not in conflict, but are in complete harmony,” Bowen said. “More clean energy. More electrification. Less dependence on fossil fuels. More energy sovereignty and reliability. Lower emissions.”
The SB64 conference is due to run until 18 June.
