Ahead of COP30, the Climate High-Level Champions head to Bonn to strengthen delivery, align ambition and help close the finance gap

The Climate High-Level Champions join delegates from around the world in Bonn, Germany this week for the June Climate Meetings – formally known as the 62nd Subsidiary Body Sessions – to lay the groundwork for ambitious outcomes at COP30 in Belém, Brazil this November.

With countries preparing their critical next round of national climate, adaptation and nature plans (including Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs), the Champions are focused on strengthening the link between policy and practice to ensure these plans are grounded in real-world progress, responsive to lived realities, and capable of unlocking the capital required to deliver them.

The talks come at a pivotal time. Discussions are underway on how to rapidly scale finance from all sources to where it is needed most. Six months on from the global climate finance goal agreed at COP29 in Azerbaijan, the gap between promises and delivery remains wide. Climate impacts are escalating while many of the communities most exposed communities continue to lack the finance or support to respond.

Guided by the Global Stocktake of progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, the international community must now move from diagnosis to delivery.

The Champions – Dan Ioschpe, Climate High-Level Champion for COP30 and Nigar Arpadarai, Climate High-Level Champion for COP29 – are working with partners across the UNFCCC process to support this shift, amplifying the voices, solutions and insights of those already delivering change on the ground. This year’s programme centres on three priorities:

• Accelerating implementation of proven solutions across key sectors from food and energy, to nature and urban systems.

• Making climate action investable, inclusive and accessible to developing countries, and small businesses.

• Ensuring the next round of NDCs are fully implemented in line with science, equity, and whole-of-society momentum.

Throughout the week, the Champions will engage with leaders from governments, businesses, financiers, as well as representatives from cities, regions, subnationals and civil society. Workshops and public events include:

• A COP30 Presidency Global Climate Action Agenda event.

• Joint work on advancing the Baku to Belém Roadmap to scale up climate finance for developing countries by at least US$1.3 trillion annually by 2035.

• Supporting implementation of the Global Stocktake and mobilizing nature-positive finance.

• Thematic discussions on decarbonization, adaptation and resilience across key systems. 

• Engagements with local government leaders, Indigenous Peoples, youth, financiers and civil society.

• Listening sessions with the Marrakech Partnership to strengthen collaboration towards the goals of the Paris Agreement.

While clean energy investment reached a record USD 2.2 trillion in 2024 – twice that of fossil fuels – adaptation finance remains far below the USD 194 to 366 billion needed annually. While many countries are working to translate ambition into implementation, they continue to face structural barriers: from limited access to concessional finance, to a lack of investable project pipelines.

The Champions are working to bridge those barriers – by aligning NDCs with real-economy momentum, surfacing solutions from the Global South, and helping to maintain trust in the process by demonstrating that progress is both possible and underway.

Find out more about the June Climate Meetings programme and follow the Champions on their website, LinkedIn and Instagram to learn more about their work in Bonn and beyond.