(National Catholic Reporter. John Leo Algo).
The United Nations Bonn climate change conference (SB60) in Germany June 3-13 was expected by many to lay the groundwork for critical negotiations to accelerate the mobilization of finance and climate action at the U.N. climate change conference, COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November. Instead, the midyear meetings ended with familiar tones of disappointment, mistrust and frustration that quickly overshadowed any progress attained in Dubai at COP28 last year. Calls for transformative change continue, including for a just transition away from fossil fuels and for an overhaul of the global finance architecture. However, many negotiators refuse to acknowledge an obvious truth: The conduct of climate negotiations itself needs to change. While climate action is not limited to what happens within the COP process, these negotiations produce the single most impactful outcomes at the global level. It will not be easy, but climate multilateralism under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) must change. This change can be ushered by an unlikely entity: the Holy See.