‘Detached from reality’: Stalled progress at Bonn climate talks leaves COP31 Presidency facing uphill battle

Bonn, Germany, Thursday 18 June 2026 — The Bonn Climate Change Conference, the halfway point on the road to COP31, has ended with important work still to be done to progress efforts to phase-out fossil fuels, protect forests and deliver progress on climate and adaptation finance.

Stalled talks around climate finance for developing countries and a repeated deadlock around mitigation have played out again at the Bonn Climate Change Conference SB64, while continued attacks on climate science became more pervasive across multiple negotiating tracks — leading to a coalition of parties calling a snap press conference demanding, ‘Defend the Science’.

Speaking from Bonn, Shiva Gounden, Head of Pacific at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “An unrelenting war on climate science took place in Bonn as fossil fuel producing nations attempted to erode the 1.5°C mandate, cutting into the negotiation tracks meant to guarantee the dignified survival of the most vulnerable to climate change. But we refuse to let these rooms become detached from the Pacific’s reality, where a breached 1.5°C will drown our history and displace our heritage, as saltwater bleeds into the Vanua (land) that has sustained us for generations.

“This crisis requires more than diplomacy; it requires Pacific courage. The COP31 Presidency must take the helm, grounded in our deeply held values of guardianship and collective survival. True leadership demands the domestic, regional and global bravery to chart a course away from fossil fuels and with moral clarity, stop every new coal, oil, and gas project in its tracks.”

Also in Bonn, Dr Susie Byers, Head of Advocacy at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “Progress at Bonn has been far slower than the urgency the climate crisis demands. We are running headfirst into catastrophic levels of heating, yet the negotiating rooms are becoming increasingly detached from the realities communities are facing.

“Across the negotiations we have seen continued attacks on science, with some fossil fuel producing nations undermining the scientific and legal imperative of warming to 1.5°C, and denying the latest scientific findings on dangerous tipping points in our climate system and the need to limit any temperature overshoot as much as possible.

“The COP31 Presidency put an ambitious electrification target on the global agenda, and this must be coupled with a clear focus on transitioning away from fossil fuels. As we look towards Türkiye, backing longstanding Pacific priorities and building on the growing momentum behind a fossil fuel phase out will be essential to a successful COP31. That means concrete action at home by developing a national roadmap away from fossil fuels, and an immediate halt to new coal, oil and gas projects including Woodside’s disastrous Browse gas project at Scott Reef.”

UN climate chief Simon Steill visited Greenpeace’s Pacific-focused photo exhibition ‘Wayfinders Roadmap’ at the Bonn conference and received a copy of Greenpeace’s latest report ‘Where the Ocean Leads Us: A Pacific Way to a Fossil Free Future’ launched at Bonn on Monday alongside The government of the Marshall Islands and the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change.

ENDS

Media contact:
Kate O’Callaghan on +61 406 231 892 (Whatsapp/Signal) or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org