From Bonn to COP31: realising a Just Transition

YEE’s take on SB64

In early June, the YEE team participated as observers in the Just Transition negotiating rooms at the 64th session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB64). This event gathers the UNFCCC delegates in Bonn to drive preliminary negotiations in preparation for COP31.

As YEE, we believe that a Just Transition is the cornerstone of climate action, because it ensures that the shift to a sustainable economy is fast and fair, while protecting workers, vulnerable communities, and future generations from the socio-economic shocks of a changing energy landscape.

However, our observations revealed that this effort has really struggled to take off. Negotiations were frequently stalled by procedural delays and technical loops, which pulled the focus away from the need to address governance and funding.

The outcomes

By the final contact group on 17 June, negotiators had a package on the table: a revised Terms of Reference (ToR) for the review of the Just Transition Work Programme, and an informal note capturing emerging ideas on the long-awaited Just Transition Mechanism (aka. Belem-Antalaya Mechanism, aka. BAM). As there was resistance to the text on “complementarity and coherence” with other instruments, the session ultimately reached a standstill.

Notably, among the delegations that stood up to call for the ToR to be saved were Burkina Faso, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), the African Group, the Independent Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC), the Environmental Integrity Group (EIG), the Least Developed Countries (LDC), and Brazil. Eventually, the co-chair narrowed the divide, and the text lived.

While the talks in Bonn were often slow and frustrating, they did indeed set the crucial foundation for a serious and meaningful agreement at COP31 (the 31st Conference of the Parties), making the BAM more attainable.

Demanding Intergenerational Equity

Inside this delicate process, the Official Youth Constituency of the UNFCCC (YOUNGO)—of which YEE is a member—made a clear structural request. They proposed a Joint Advisory Body for governance modeled after the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) Advisory Board, which would include permanent seats for all nine UNFCCC observer constituencies and an operational entity for continuity.

YOUNGO suggested that meaningful engagement in the governance of this mechanism is what transforms intergenerational equity from a concept into a practice, reminding negotiators that children and youth will inherit the results of the transitions being designed today.

YEE’s response statement

What these observations confirm is that Just Transition was the one track in Bonn that kept moving despite the room’s working methods. A mechanism this important should not depend on whether a handful of words survive a midday break. We maintain that the BAM must progress beyond discussion to help make a Just Transition a reality. YEE explicitly calls for the creation of a new constituted body to oversee the Just Transition Mechanism, ensuring we avoid a hollow void outcome at COP31.

Heading into COP31, YEE urges Parties to endorse governance for the Just Transition Mechanism with formal voting seats for youth and other observer constituencies; it is important for it to be funded so that assistance reaches communities directly instead of circulating through further dialogues. The next few months are critical, and YEE will conduct strategic outreach and coalition-building to guarantee that these governance structures are finalised. 

Bonn showed us the vulnerability and resilience of the multilateral process, and we hope COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, will transfer the resilience into action.