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SB64: Least Developed, Small Island nations call for action as progress falls short of realities – EnviroNews
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In the midst of intense ongoing negotiations, the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), representing 44 Least Developed Countries and 39 Small Island Developing States (SIDS), on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, convened to express their deep concern over the insufficient progress achieved thus far at the SB64 Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany.
According to the groups, the current negotiations are failing to match the urgency of the climate crisis facing the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries. With limited time remaining, negotiations across several critical agenda items remain stalled while climate impacts continue to intensify, threatening lives, livelihoods, ecosystems, and hard-won development gains.
LDCs and AOSIS underscored that SB64 must lay the groundwork for ambitious and meaningful outcomes at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye; however, progress to date has fallen short of expectations.
The two groups reaffirmed that limiting global warming to 1.5°C is a matter of survival, not political preference. Both expressed serious concern over attempts to weaken the role of science within the UNFCCC process and to undermine the centrality of the 1.5°C temperature goal. For vulnerable countries, every fraction of a degree matters. Exceeding the 1.5°C threshold would have devastating consequences for Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries, and other climate-vulnerable communities.
The groups called for a strengthened Mitigation Work Programme that supports implementation and effectively delivers the outcomes of the Global Stocktake by accelerating emissions reductions, expanding renewable energy deployment, improving energy efficiency, and keeping the goals of the Paris Agreement within reach. They also emphasised the importance of the timely completion of the IPCC Seventh Assessment Report cycle to inform the second Global Stocktake.
The groups highlighted significant shortfalls in climate finance mechanisms, including funding deficits affecting major climate funds and persistent challenges in securing adequate resources for adaptation and resilience-building efforts. International climate finance is declining rather than expanding, and the gap between commitments and actual delivery continues to widen – particularly at a time when vulnerable countries are increasing climate ambition and prioritising the implementation of their climate plans.
Both groups stressed that implementation of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance must begin immediately and credibly, with clear pathways toward mobilising at least $300 billion annually by 2035. They further called for the urgent replenishment of climate funds, including the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Adaptation Fund, and other multilateral financing mechanisms. Resources must be accessible, predictable, affordable, and available at the scale required to meet growing climate needs.
On adaptation, the two groups called for the accelerated implementation of the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), including the operationalisation of the Belém adaptation indicators and the advancement of the Belém-Addis Vision agreed at COP30.
The groups emphasised that existing commitments, including the agreement to triple adaptation finance by 2035, must be clearly reflected in negotiation outcomes and translated into practical implementation.
LDCs and AOSIS also called for the urgent adoption of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the review of the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP) at SB64. Despite intensive engagement over the past two days, Parties have yet to reach agreement. Without an agreed TOR, the Secretariat will lack the mandate to undertake the intersessional review process, putting at risk the continuation of the JTWP beyond 2026. The two groups urged Parties to adopt the TOR without further delay to ensure a meaningful review process and informed decisions at COP31 and CMA8.
As negotiations enter their final stages, LDCs and AOSIS called on all Parties to demonstrate greater ambition, flexibility, and political will.
“The increasing likelihood of overshoot is a signal that we should be redoubling our efforts to fully implement the Paris Agreement, and urgently reduce emissions, with a view to limiting extent and the duration of any overshoot,” said Anne Rasmussen, AOSIS Lead Negotiator. “It is not a signal for us to give up, accept climate destabilisation, and condemn the most vulnerable to suffer.”
LDC Chair of the LDC Group, Ambassador Adao Soares Barbosa, emphasised: “The world’s most vulnerable countries cannot afford further delays. We need outcomes that strengthen implementation, mobilise support, accelerate mitigation, advance adaptation, and keep the goals of the Paris Agreement within reach. The science is clear, the impacts are already being felt, and the responsibility to act has never been greater.”
