ECO 2, SB64

09 June 2026

Locked Out Before the Talks Begin: Visa Barriers Are Silencing African Voices at the SBs

Denied appointments, rejected applications, and bureaucratic silence – African negotiators and observers are being shut out of the UNFCCC process before they ever board a plane. The Secretariat must act now.

Once again, the cruel irony of climate diplomacy is playing out in visa offices far from the negotiating floor. This year’s SBs have brought yet another wave of devastating accounts from African delegates, civil society representatives, and observers who were either unable to secure visa appointments or received outright rejections despite holding valid accreditations from the UNFCCC Secretariat itself.

In some cases, applicants waited weeks for appointments only to be met with deafening silence by their regional German embassies. For others, visas were denied with no explanations or avenues for appeal.

These are not isolated incidents. They form a recognisable pattern that has been repeated conference after conference. The consequence is the systematic exclusion of the people most affected by the climate crisis from the very rooms where the crisis is supposed to be addressed.

“Accreditation means nothing if a visa denial is the last word. The UNFCCC cannot credibly claim to champion climate justice while African voices are filtered out at the border,” said a delegate waiting endlessly for an appointment.

It’s no secret that African peoples’ and communities bear a disproportionate and accelerating burden of climate impacts despite contributing less than four percent of global emissions. The moral and political imperatives for African participation in these negotiations is overwhelming. Yet, year after year, African delegates face unjustifiable uncertainties that their counterparts from wealthier nations simply do not encounter. The problem is structural, not personal. When rejection letters arrive without reason or recourse, the message received is clear: your presence here is not expected, and not wanted.

We are calling out the German government for failing to adhere to the Convention and the ‘Headquarters Agreement’ it has signed with the UN, under which it is obligated to provide visas to all representatives of member states accredited by the UNFCCC. The German government routinely violates these terms when it fails to even provide accredited delegates consulate appointments.

We strongly call on the UNFCCC Secretariat and the Bureau to treat this with the urgency it deserves, and hold host countries of COPs and SBs, including Germany, to the binding agreements that includes the guaranteed facilitation of visas for delegates. Governments that wish to host these negotiations must demonstrate their commitment and ability to host all accredited delegates.

Anything less is not a procedural failure; it is a political choice that entrenches the exclusion of African nations from a process that will determine their future. Africans recognise that this is not a problem faced by African delegates alone. It is a problem facing the Global South. We have heard the same devastating stories of exclusion from delegates in other Global South regions. The UNFCCC was built on the principle of equity. It is time that this principle is extended to ensuring that the people most affected by climate harm can walk through the door.

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Raising the BAR on Adaptation finance

COP30 in Belém marked a shift for adaptation in the UNFCCC. With the framework completed, Parties now have to get serious about real-life implementation of the Global Goal on Adaptation. However, for developing countries’ to achieve the agreed targets, on an equal footing to developed countries, hinges on predictable access to Means of Implementation, especially Adaptation Finance. It has to be public, grant-based and non-debt inducing. And accessible. That is where BAR – the Baku Adaptation Roadmap – can break ground on implementation and  finally address the elephant in the room “Adaptation Finance”

The first workshop needs to reflect high ambitions, high commitments and a strong determination to support those that are suffering  from climate change impacts. ECO therefore strongly appeals to Parties to move away from the technical jargon and start addressing the concrete ways in which to deliver adaptation finance.

ECO can no longer accept the status quo approach to adaptation in the UNFCCC. No more strategic ambiguity and siloed treatment of adaptation finance, and no more excuses to defer meaningful progress on GGA implementation. Provision of adaptation finance and direct access to this by communities is urgent. All parties know this, all parties have said this and yet it has been a constant weak point of the GGA process. It’s time to break this cycle and tackle adaptation action AND support in a coherent and responsible way. 

ECO has a plan for how the BAR can enhance cooperation and finance for Adaptation. As a mechanism that orchestrates the adaptation architecture while ensuring policy and technical coherence, the BAR is the right space for addressing the urgent need to deliver the commitment to triple adaptation finance.We cannot wait for the 2028 review of the NCQG to secure clear commitments on adaptation finance.   Climate events, exacerbated by El Niño, increase in intensity and frequency.

ECO has been a consistent voice calling for the scaling up of Adaptation Finance to meet the needs, and we will continue to raise our voice about this. The provision of Adaptation finance is a pre-condition for implementation. One is not possible without the other. This is the BAR that needs to be set in this first workshop.

On the occasion of the hard launch of the BAR’s 1st phase, ECO is donning its bartender’s hat and offers the following menu of items. Pick carefully as some are deadly. 

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The Shetland Pony Broken Promise

In theory, the first Climate Finance Work Programme workshop could have been a promising space. Yet ECO encountered a familiar scene: developing countries sounding the alarm while developed countries played deaf. 

However the numbers speak louder than words. GEF-9 is cut by 27%. The GCF is in freefall. The Adaptation Fund is starved. As a delegate noted, the horse promised in Paris is now a “Shetland pony.” But instead of addressing this collapse, day one was consumed by a battle over scope and modalities. 

You want to talk about the scope? Well, let’s start with the fact that the focus on public provision is non-negotiable. This is not a charitable contribution – it is a binding commitment.The Work Programme therefore must place the legal obligation of Article 9.1 at its core. One negotiator reminded us that private finance cannot save the most vulnerable. Adaptation is about “lives protected, not profits earned.” Many groups have been unequivocal in their rejection of the current workplan – it is not party-driven and sidelines Article 9.1 by reducing it  to just another topic among many. 

In reaction, ECO heard (and it’s not the first time) that developed countries want to discuss “Article 9 as a whole” and of course that means private finance mobilization. But ECO knows that you cannot mobilise private finance without public finance as the foundation. The focus must be on quality – grants, not loans; access, not debt traps.

In terms of the modalities, it is important to remember that this can’t be discussed solely through a series of workshops. “Guiding questions” and “summary reports” cannot replace negotiated outcomes. Otherwise it risks being yet another talkshop?

ECO says, Deliver on Article 9.1. Turn the Shetland pony into a racehorse. The world cannot wait.

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