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As the curtains fall on the UN’s 62nd session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB62) in Bonn, Germany, one thing is clear: Africa is running out of patience.
Hailed as the technical prelude to COP30 in Brazil, SB62 was meant to set the tone for what many hope will be a historic climate summit. For Africa, and that matter, much of the permanent Global South, it seemed just another lost opportunity.
I had front-row access to the diplomatic choreography of these negotiations during SB62. While the conference center buzzed with urgency only on the surface, in reality, slow, fragmented, and sometimes far from heartening progress was made, especially regarding issues of paramount importance to African nations.
Africa went into these negotiations bearing well-defined priorities; operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund; agreeing on a meaningful New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance, and fighting for more adaptation finance on equitable terms. They are not abstract demands; rather, they are demands for a continent already bearing ill effects almost in full from climate change.
From an increased death toll from climate-related floods in Nigeria to crippling droughts in Kenya and Somalia, Africa’s climate narrative is one of survival. Yet at SB62, many African negotiators found themselves navigating a labyrinth of procedural debates, while the urgency of their calls was diluted in a fog of bureaucracy and technicalities.
One of the most glaring disappointments was the question of negotiating around the NCQG, a target that will replace the unmet $100 billion yearly commitment of Paris. Years of promises about climate finance notwithstanding, African nations continue to be given a drop of what they really need, sometimes in loans rather than in grants. The discussions in Bonn did little to give confidence that this new goal would actually be more ambitious, more accessible, or more just.
