ECO 7, SB64

15 June 2026

Same Playbook – Predictable and Dangerous

Week One of the talks got out of the blocks with no big dramas, no usual agenda fights and no delays. ECO breathed a sigh of relief. Is there a new spirit of urgency developing? Will Parties finally get to working in earnest to address the increasing and devastating climate emergency? In Week One, ECO challenged negotiators to shift from “things staying the same”.

Sadly, coming into Week Two of the talks, ECO’s anticipation of things changing did not materialise. What we witnessed in the negotiation rooms throughout week one, was the same playbook. Like a boxing match, negotiators did the usual bob and weave that we have come to expect. Whenever the discussions centred on concrete proposals to support climate action in developing countries, like setting up a mechanism that has the capacity to support real implementation of just transitions at national and local levels, or committing to providing the scale of finance needed to build resilience of communities in the global south, or the fulfilment of obligations to provide public finance for climate, or the resourcing needed to transition away from fossil fuels, we heard the same predictable responses: “We don’t need new mechanisms”, “we need to de-risk capital to mobilise private sector funds”, “we need to focus on indicators”, “we need to focus on the science and not equity”…

Not once did we hear, “we will deliver the finance we committed to”, “we will support mechanisms that will enhance international cooperation”, “we will lead on the transition away from fossil fuels.” Not once! Bob and weave, and shifting the goalposts this is the playbook.

And the results of this usual playbook is the usual spiralling of climate talks. ECO can only wonder whether the cognitive dissonance in these halls is part of the architecture of this process. But we heard the references in speeches about the crises the world faces, the energy shocks, the cost of living crisis, the increasing price of food, the wars, the disasters…

ECO is then reminded that the one thing we are good at is rhetoric!

So dear delegates, today is the start of Week 2 of the negotiations. You have some very heavy lifting to do in order to get us back on track. There is a draft text for the Just Transition Mechanism (BAM) to get to, there is a consensus to reach on the inclusion of the tripling of adaptation finance in the GGA draft text, there is the urgent need to address Article 9.1 as seriously as some are wanting to address Article 2.1c). And of course, there is the pressing matter of where next for the Mitigation Work Program that you need to wrap your heads around. And finally, we would like to point out that this is an unprecedented double Presidency year. ECO hopes this means we get double the determination, double the impetus, and double the ambition to deliver for people.

Buckle up delegates, this is the week you get down to doing this serious work. Your playbooks are not only becoming predictable, it is also becoming dangerous for people and planet. ECO will be all over you like a rash.

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Parties, what are you AIMing for?

ECO’s take on the draft AIM text: lots of issues mentioned, but many of the REAL  issues are missing. ECO has decided to help you. Let’s AIM right!

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Tripling, Tripling, Tripling

ECO’s message is loud and clear: tripling adaptation finance belongs in the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA).. Indicators matter, but without finance they risk becoming little more than a very sophisticated way of measuring wishful thinking..

As negotiators head into another week of adaptation discussions, ECO is sending a distress signal. At COP30, Parties committed to tripling adaptation finance by 2035. It is therefore only logical that this commitment is reflected in the GGA. Why? Because that’s the way developing countries will be able to implement the targets of the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience and to test the Belém Adaptation indicators. 

A commitment made on adaptation finance cannot simply disappear when it comes time to implement it.

After discussing 12 options for a task force on indicators, there is a real risk of losing sight of the bigger picture. Adaptation is not an exercise in producing ever more elegant spreadsheets. It is about helping people and ecosystems adapt to a climate that is already wreaking havoc. 

Many countries already have National Adaptation Plans. But the biggest barrier to its  implementation remains the means of implementation, above all, finance! Public, adequate, accessible, and grants-based finance that reaches those on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

At COP31, developed countries must provide a transparent path for delivering at least USD 120 billion annually (remember: this is a floor, not a ceiling!) in adaptation finance to developing countries. Estimated adaptation needs in developing countries already exceed this amount several times over. According to the latest UNEP Adaptation Gap report, the finance gap for adaptation averages around 300 billion USD a year. The real ambition lies far beyond tripling.

An ugly-looking El Niño is at our doorstep, turbo-charged by climate change, with expected record-breaking temperatures and unpredictable rainfall, that will worsen the ongoing global hunger crisis. This looming crisis will not wait until indicators are tested or for ongoing discussions at SB’s and COP’s. ECO is clear – We need adaptation finance now!

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Just Transition negotiators: time to dream big!

“Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” Gloria Steinem 

ECO has often been told its demands on Just Transition were unrealistic. It was unrealistic to bring labour rights and international cooperation to the scope of the work programme (won in 2023); it was unrealistic to get a work programme to deliver actionable outcomes (almost won in 2024, confirmed in 2025); it was unrealistic to get all the relevant pieces of rights and social inclusion in the COP30 decision; it was unrealistic to agree on the need for a global just transition mechanism (all of this won in 2025). Reality has beaten the prophets of doom time and again.

And not by chance: civil society played a role. COP Presidencies played a role. The Secretariat played a role. ECO wants to believe that it played a role. But you, dear JT negotiator, have made it happen. And you did it because you managed to navigate very thin lines between your country’s positions and your belief that we can do better for people and the planet.

ECO is again up for a very ambitious expectation for COP31 – a BAM with the agency and capability to bring together and support those making just transition happen, including through finance and technical assistance. And guess what? ECO is told yet again this is unrealistic.

The past few days might have encouraged doomsayers. So ECO is calling on you to resist. If there is an issue where consensus can be found at this moment, it is on the idea that climate action must center people and their needs, and that we must help each other to get there fast.

BAM is within reach. It’s a reasonable expectation IF you use the time you have left with care, love, and imagination. So, JT delegates, ECO has the back of those who dream with us. Dream big and deliver even bigger!

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The Adaptation Fund Must be Saved

As civil society and rightsholders from across the world, representing women and girls, in all their diversity, we are in Bonn to advance ambitious, gender-just climate action across the UNFCCC. And we have a clear message that cannot get lost in the noise: the Adaptation Fund must be saved.

The Adaptation Fund is irreplaceable. It is the only climate fund that provides full-cost grants (not loans) to developing countries, and it pioneered direct access. For the most climate-vulnerable people on the planet, the fund is not just valuable, it is a lifeline for climate resilience and their wellbeing.

That is why the transition of the Adaptation Fund to also serve the Paris Agreement, including through receiving proceeds from Article 6.4, must happen properly. A decision forwarded from this session for adoption at COP31 would demonstrate clearly that Parties are serious about the quality of adaptation finance. ECO will not accept the Adaptation Fund being sacrificed as a pawn in broader political games. 

The transition should not come at the expense of what makes the Fund work, and it must not become an excuse to stop funding it. Developed countries should scale up their pledges to the Adaptation Fund now, and not wait until after the transition is complete. Communities cannot afford a funding gap while Parties sort out procedural questions. Withholding pledges until the transition is resolved is not a neutral position but a choice to let the Fund wither.

The Adaptation Fund has delivered. It has reached communities that other funds have not, and in ways that other funds cannot. The institution exists – Parties just have to choose to protect and strengthen it.