The UN’s climate change body is bringing back regular gatherings in the Global South in 2025 after the annual week-long events were cancelled last year due to lack of funding and a strategic rethink.

From now on, the UNFCCC will organise two “Climate Weeks” a year, with a new format more closely focused on turbo-charging talks on key issues including climate finance, the “just transition” away from fossil fuels and the development of carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

The events aim to assemble government negotiators, technical experts and representatives from civil society and business with the goal of building political momentum and accelerating progress ahead of the year’s main negotiating sessions usually held in Bonn in June and the headline COPs in November.

Unlike their previous versions, the new climate weeks will no longer have a tight regional focus, but are intended to serve as a conduit for local perspectives to feed into global discussions on efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of global warming.

2025 summits in Latin America and Africa

A first event is expected to be held in the first half of the year in Latin America, while an African nation is due to play host to a second climate week in the run-up to COP30, which will take place in the Brazilian city of Belém this November.

In 2025, the climate weeks will also focus on supporting the submission of ambitious national climate plans, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), before the annual climate summit.

After Trump’s pullback, Bloomberg promises to fill US funding gap to UN climate body

UNFCCC chief Simon Stiell said “this approach will help bridge the gap between technical dialogues and stakeholder engagement focused on real-economy solutions and real-world implementation”.

The new focus for the climate weeks “aims to help the government-led process to deliver faster progress and concrete outcomes that benefit all economies and people’s daily lives, while also delivering cost-savings in the process”, he added.

Cost and emissions savings

Civil society groups and some government officials, especially from vulnerable countries, voiced “huge disappointment” last year when the UNFCCC scrapped its regional climate weeks – widely seen as an important fixture for climate dialogue in the Global South.

The UN climate body made the decision amid wider financial challenges caused by governments’ failure to provide enough money for its rising needs as work on different areas of climate action grows.

Climate Home understands the UNFCCC’s budget has since marginally improved as some countries cleared years-long arrears, including the United States under former President Joe Biden’s administration, while others, like Japan and Germany, made significant voluntary contributions.

Last month, US billionaire Michael Bloomberg announced that his philanthropic foundation would step in to fill a funding gap left by climate-sceptic President Donald Trump’s order to halt contributions.

The climate weeks will primarily rely on funding that has been earmarked for the ever-expanding list of workshops and technical discussions requested by countries. As some of these events will now be grouped together in a single week and location, the UNFCCC expects to cut overall costs and lessen the environmental impact thanks to reduced travel.

Host countries and other governments could also contribute funding for the organisation of the events.

The post UN Climate Weeks to restart with new focus on fast-tracking negotiations appeared first on Climate Home News.

UN Climate Weeks to restart with new focus on fast-tracking negotiations