BONN, Germany, June 4, 2026 — Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) experts will be in Bonn, Germany, engaging in international climate negotiations during the 64th session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from June 8–18, 2026, and are available for comment.
SB64 marks a critical midpoint between COP30 in Belem, Brazil, and COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye. The negotiations take place against a backdrop of geopolitical instability, ongoing wars, widespread violations of international and human rights law, shrinking civic space, and accelerating climate impacts worldwide. The talks are further overshadowed by Germany’s role as host, whose government’s actions have enabled the genocide in Gaza and restrictions on peaceful protest have raised serious questions about the credibility and legitimacy of the negotiations from the outset.
SB64 follows the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, which further underscored the UNFCCC’s three-decade failure to address the root cause of climate change: fossil fuels. The conference highlighted the urgent need to reform the current climate regime while building parallel and complementary pathways to phase out fossil fuels.
At the same time, courts around the world have increasingly reaffirmed that States’ climate obligations are neither voluntary nor aspirational. The landmark climate ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alongside the recent UN General Assembly climate accountability resolution to operationalize the court’s findings, reinforced States’ obligations to prevent, address, and remedy climate harm in line with human rights, equity, and intergenerational justice.
What needs to happen at the UNFCCC 64th session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) in Bonn
Against this backdrop, governments coming together for the UNFCCC must back effective multilateralism by confronting the structural failures undermining the UNFCCC process. Parties need to take meaningful steps towards effective and inclusive negotiations free from undue corporate influence, break the consensus deadlock, and advance rights-based solutions to the climate crisis ahead of COP31.
Key Topics CIEL Experts will Focus on in Bonn
- Fixing a broken system: Defending multilateralism and accelerating climate action by advancing systemic reform of the UNFCCC process to ensure it is effective, transparent, inclusive, and free from undue influence by fossil fuel and other corporate actors.
- Turning legal obligations into action: Upholding the rule of law by ensuring that UNFCCC outcomes align with States’ international legal obligations, including those clarified by international courts and tribunals, and calling for accountability in light of violations of international law and impunity more broadly.
- Phasing out fossil fuels and stopping false solutions: Urging States to build on the outcomes of Santa Marta and begin work toward a Fossil Fuel Treaty to accelerate a just and equitable phaseout of fossil fuels. The focus will also be on challenging the expansion of false solutions that risk prolonging fossil fuel dependence, including carbon markets, carbon capture and storage (CCS), geoengineering, and other speculative technologies.
- Defending human rights & civic space: Advancing rights-based climate action and defending civic space within the UNFCCC process, particularly in the lead-up to COP31 in Türkiye, a country with a documented record of restrictions on civic freedoms and environmental defenders.
- Breaking Legal Barriers to Climate Action: Supporting States in dismantling Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms that obstruct ambitious climate action and fossil fuel phaseout efforts.
CIEL Experts in Bonn
Camilla Pollera — CIEL Campaigner, specializing in the intersection of human rights and climate change, including promoting the rights to a healthy environment, civic space in the UNFCCC, and the protection of environmental defenders. In Bonn, June 8–18. Follow Camilla on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Erika Lennon — CIEL Senior Attorney focusing on the role of fossil fuels in the climate crisis, carbon offsets, including Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, climate finance, the implications of international advisory opinions, and strengthening global climate governance, including UNFCCC reform. In Bonn, June 8–18. Follow Erika on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Bluesky.
Francesca Mingrone — CIEL Senior Attorney, specializing in the intersection of human rights and climate change. At SB64, she will focus on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) as a barrier to fossil fuel phaseout and to aligning financial flows with the goals of the Paris Agreement. In Bonn, June 8-14. Follow Francesca on LinkedIn.
Lien Vandamme — CIEL Senior Campaigner specializing in the intersection of human rights and climate accountability, including remedy and reparations for climate harm and rights-based responses for loss and damage, and strengthening global climate governance, including UNFCCC reform. In Bonn, June 8–18. Follow Lien on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Mary Church — CIEL Geoengineering Campaign Manager specializing in speculative fossil fuel “escape hatches,” including solar and marine geoengineering, and their risks. Mary will be in Bonn from 8-12 June. Follow Mary on Bluesky, LinkedIn, and X.
Media Contact
For more information and to request interviews, please contact:
Niccolò Sarno, CIEL Global Media Relations at [email protected]