Friends of the Earth International at Bonn Climate Change Conference

Friends of the Earth International, the world’s largest grassroots environmental federation, hosts a small delegation of experts and activists at the 60th session of the Subsidiary Bodies pre-sessional meetings (Bonn Climate Change Conference) in Bonn, Germany.

The group will highlight the urgent need to make progress on delivery by rich countries of new public climate finance for developing countries. They will also warn of the dangers of unproven technofixes and dodgy carbon market schemes, as negotiations under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement restart after stalling at COP28 last year, and the Oceans Dialogue continues.

Sara Shaw, Friends of the Earth International Program Coordinator said:

‘The world is on fire because of decades of inaction by rich countries on reducing emissions, and their failure to pay the climate finance they owe to developing countries to transition to renewable energy systems for all, and to pay for rising costs for loss and damage and adaptation. What is on the table to date is scales of magnitude away from what it needed. This year must be a year of breakthrough on climate finance.’

As Bonn opens its doors to the 60th sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies of the UNFCCC, we are witnessing the magnitude of climate impacts in Brazil where floods have been devastating communities, cities, and crops. The inaction of global governments to address the climate crisis with urgent and adequate action is leading once more to hundreds of thousands of people losing their lives and livelihoods. This is what loss and damage looks like.

Lucia Ortiz, Friends of the Earth Brazil said:

‘The disaster in Rio Grande do Sul heralds a devastating future for society, with entire cities lost and more than 230,000 climate refugees who will no longer be able to return to their homes. In Brazil we are witnessing the unity of popular urban and rural social movements paving the way for real solutions.

At the same time we cannot ignore the responsibility and continued inaction of those who got us here – our global governments are failing to address the climate crisis fuelling such disasters, failing to provide the much needed relief and climate finance necessary for adaptation and loss and damage. Worse, they are working hand in hand with big corporations to promote neoliberal false solutions that further systems of exploitation and injustice. In Bonn and across the world, we know it is those governments and corporations who are at the core of what is happening in Rio Grande do Sul.’ – – –

We will have spokespeople in Bonn and remotely able to comment on the talks and their outcomes.

Key activities

Side event: Corporate Climate Litigation: a new frontier against carbon majors

→ 12 June 10:15 – 11:30 CET // Room Berlin

→ Climate litigation can hold big polluters accountable for causing climate change. We present legal efforts in several cases against corporations that seek emissions cuts, and compensation for loss and damage, including the Indonesian Pari Islanders’ case against Swiss cement company Holcim.

→ Speakers: FoEI, WALHIi, Grantham Institute, ICCAD, ECCR, HEKS/EPER and plaintiffs from the Pari Island case.→ Join remotely: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83315378624